200 people at Strathfieldsaye meeting seeking right to be safe in own homes

There were some extreme stories among those gathered at Braidie's Tavern on February 8 to discuss the growing incidence of break-ins and car thefts at their Bendigo housing estates and suburbs.

"It's reaching a point where I'm scared to be alone at night," one woman, who lives in an isolated location, told the Advertiser.

Mike from the usually sleepy suburb of Big Hill referred to what was going on in his neighbourhood as "a pantomime".

But he was concerned someone could get hurt.

There had been several incidents in the past couple of weeks, he said, including the night before at his own house when CCTV footage captured intruders checking the handles of his car doors.

A neighbour had three cars stolen after her garage remote control was taken from an unlocked car and thieves entered her house, where they found the keys.

Another, who also had footage, heard offenders pulling handles on the street and chased them out onto the highway, he said.

Among the grimmest stories was Graham's.

The father-of-two's life changed six years ago when he was stabbed with his own kitchen knife by an attacker who entered his unlocked house in Castlemaine and laid in wait for him.

The violent burglar, who would later plead mental impairment in court, told Graham, "I'm here to kill you".

"It's awful," Graham said. "Unless it happens to you, you don't know."

But what happened to him was highly unusual, according to Bendigo police.

Very rarely are they seeing break-ins that are confrontational, they told the meeting.

Usually the crimes are "opportunistic", most often involving motor vehicles stolen for joy rides.

Neighbours Alycia Hatzi and Stacey Wilkinson organised the February 8 meeting because of problems at Strathfieldsaye's Imagine estate, where there has been a spate of recent crimes, but people came to it from suburbs around the city.

The gathering heard from police that the increasing problem wasn't limited to Bendigo, Victoria or even Australia but was "societal".

Senior Sergeant Rob Gibson echoed the message police have been promoting for some time that the majority of break-ins were what police classify as "creep-in burglaries".

"People thinking of stealing ... cars would look to target a location for an opportunistic event," he said.

"So an open garage door, an open door, people would look to creep in with the intent to steal a motor vehicle and then look either within the house or, more often than not, without even going into the house being able to access a vehicle, access the key, open the garage door whether it's up or down and steal that vehicle."

Bendigo police were adequately resourced to combat the problem, they said, with the Criminal Investigation Unit and detectives working on it along with officers on patrol.

However, they needed information from residents, and advised people to call triple-0 when suspicious activity was taking place.

They also advised residents to be vigilant about locking their vehicles and all house and garage doors, keeping rubbish bins away from fences - where they could be used as ladders - and conducting nightly checks of their premises.

"What I'm promoting here is not rocket science, ok, it's the basics, but unfortunately the landscape as we see it, criminal offending at present, [leaves] you people as easy targets," Senior Sergeant Gibson said.

The police message was well received by many at the meeting.

"I think a lot of people will go home and do what they should've been doing with regard to security," an older attendee, Rob, said.

"It makes you feel empowered that you can do something," said Beth Hodson-Clark, from McIvor Forest Estate.

But others were angry about what they saw as a systemic failure to stop repeat offenders.

"..[If] you've got repeat offenders, why aren't they being put away?" resident Scott Driscoll asked the officers.

"We should be canvassing our politicians to find out their attitudes," he told the meeting.

The view that "our laws are far too lenient" expressed by another attendee seemed to be shared by more than a few people.

There was also criticism of police for a perceived lack of "compassion" for residents' experiences as well as seeming to put the onus of preventing crime on residents.

"The only thing we did get out of it was ... apparently we're allowed to have a citizen's arrest," one man said. "That's what we wanted to know."

While police told the crowd they had the right to defend their home, people could be charged for using unreasonable force, they were warned.

Senior Sergeant Gibson gave advice to a man inclined to handle the situation himself that he should call the police, who were "far better equipped to apprehend the offender than you will ever be".

Organisers Ms Hatzi and Ms Wilkinson were generally pleased with how the meeting had gone.

They were waiting to hear more from the police about setting up a Neighbourhood Watch group, they said, and were continuing to promote an outdoor 'Lights on' campaign at their estate to improve night time security.

They were also glad to have shared security tips with so many attendees and intended to continue to keep a focus on the issue, organising another meeting if needed.

"If it comes back, it will be Bendigo-wide," Ms Wilkinson said.