Upper Yarra
5 Tuesday, 17 June, 2014
Royal salute to drivers
10
Mail Covering the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges Shire
Town’s double blow
A Mail Newspaper Group publication
21-23
Sports of all sorts
Phone: 5957 3700 Trades and Classifieds: 1300 666 808
Top cop says ice crisis is set to continue...
Avalanche of crime
& Ga den YOUR LOCAL SUPPLIER
Warburton Highway, Wesburn 3799
5967 1367
WELCOME to WYTAG Reserve! The reserve, which has been long-awaited, was officially opened on Saturday 14 June and will now provides the community with a new community hub. Located on the corner of Koo Wee Rup Road and Woori Court in Woori Yallock, the reserve features
an amphitheatre, picnic tables, seating, footpaths and a flagpole for residents to use. The Woori Yallock Township Action Group (WYTAG) took the initiative to get the reserve created as part of a community renewal project and funding came from a number of bodies.
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YARRA RANGES
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LILYDALE 9735 0188 32 Main Street
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More than 60 people attended the opening event before a ribbon was cut by Seymour MP and Eildon candidate Cindy McLeish, Yarra Ranges councillor Jim Child and WYTAG’s president and treasurer Rick and Val Shaw. For the full story, turn to page 10.
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Thinking of selling?...call Bell’s Warburton 59662530 - Yarra Junction 59671277 - Woori Yallock 59615277
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andscape
Reserve action this day!
1127608-DJ14-14
YARRA VALLEY
WYTAG president and treasurer Rick and Val Shaw with MP Cindy McLeish, centre, at the opening of WYTAG Reserve. 122236 Picture: GREG CARRICK
201557-SS40-5 1086543-JL33-13
ICE will be the biggest challenge for local police over the next few years – according to Yarra Ranges’ top cop. Superintendent Graeme Arthur, who is the Victoria Police Divisional Commander of Division Two, which includes Yarra Ranges, Knox and Maroondah, spoke to the Mail exclusively last week about the crystal methamphetamine (ice) problem in the area. “It’s (the ice issue) is our biggest challenge of the next few years,” Supt Arthur said. “If we get rid of the ice problem, we would see a major reduction in crime.” Supt Arthur said the same sorts of crimes were happening with heroin users when he was a young policeman in the 1980s and ’90s. But the nature of that drug meant that users were often dopey and drowsy when they got their hit. “Now ice has a totally different effect,” he said. “Sometimes they are awake for five days and have a heightened sense of awareness and are alert and often are committing more crimes while they are affected by the drug. “They are not only extremely aggressive but they have no recollection of what they have done or are doing.” He said the ice epidemic was a driver for much of the volume of crime in the division, which included thefts from cars, theft of cars and other burglaries. “Right across the division, there has been an 8 per cent rise in volume crime,” he said. “The Yarra Ranges is up the same amount, and there is a reason for that. “I’m not saying it’s ice for all, but we believe there is a direct link.” Supt Arthur said the ice problem in the Yarra Ranges was no worse than other areas and that there had been dramatic increases everywhere. He said that police were aware that
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs were responsible for a lot of the distribution and manufacture of ice and that’s why there was a concentrated effort by police to target these groups. “We’ve done a lot of work on OMCG in the area, Kilsyth, Bayswater, and most would remember a recent raid on a licensed premises and gymnasium in Healesville,” he said. “We also rely on information from members of the pubic, it’s not just a policing issue; it’s a whole of community issue. “Our motto is ‘if you see something, say something’.” The expensive nature of ice and the increase in crime has a direct link, according to Supt Arthur. “It’s now costing users between $700 and $1000 a gram,” he said. “This is why we have addicts breaking into cars and shops – they are selling anything they can get their hands on.” He said because of the expense, one addict would, in effect, cause a mini crime wave on their own and mentioned a recent spate of thefts from cars in Upwey and Boronia that could be linked to drug use. “Burglaries in cafes, car washes, petrol stations and other small shops that might leave money in tills overnight is up by 15 to 20 per cent,” he said. “It’s about anywhere they can get their hands on money and the general link to these is ice.” Local police also discovered and arrested a syndicate last year in which ice was bought with stolen computers and iPads. “We had over 100 school burglaries last year where they were stealing laptops and computers,” Supt Arthur said. “Seventy per cent of these happened in the Yarra Ranges and we found that they were swapping computers for ice.” While police are at the forefront, Supt Arthur said the community needed to work together in the fight against the ice epidemic. Continued page 3
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By MELISSA MEEHAN
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