DESPITE an increase in firearm thefts, guns are not being used for nefarious purposes and community safety is unaffected police said.
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Senior Sergeant Brendan Broadbent told a police community forum in Horsham that without an explanation, statistics affect a community’s sense of safety.
Senior Sergeant Broadbent said four firearms were stole each week in the area from Ararat to the border.
He said people had wrongly attributed the increase to bikie related activities.
“That’s quite a significant number of firearms for us and it has a big impact on how people perceive their safety,” he said.
Senior Sergeant Broadbent said it was essential people knew the facts behind statistics. He said intelligence showed the crimes were thefts of opportunity, not bikie related. He said police caught offenders and tracked the guns, finding they were not used in crimes and community safety was not affected.
- For more on the Horsham police forum, see pages 4 and 9
