The Robe community hope to come together to tackle rural crime with a meeting tomorrow night (Thursday February 21) in the Bray Hall to discuss forming a Neighbourhood Watch group.
Linda Kennett is the driving force after being frustrated about not getting a breakthrough when she and her partner reported a farm theft last year.
A Mazda ute, motorbike and firearms were taken from a locked shed on a property at Nora Creina but so far they have had no success getting any of it back.
She says a local Neighbourhood Watch group could keep the community informed about crime prevention and how to report a theft believing too many go unreported.
"We need to know who our neighbours are - good, bad or indifferent," Ms Kennett said.
"Everyone needs to look out for each other and we might be able to match a pattern of behaviour in the area to catch any offenders."
Robe District Council mayor Alison Nunan, who is chairing the meeting, says there has been a noticeable increase in crime in rural areas but especially around Bray with incidents of stock theft and equipment going missing from sheds.
"Trying to catch people in rural areas is difficult so the whole idea of Neighbourhood Watch is to get the community's awareness up," she said.
"We all know each other and who is home and who isn't so if you know someone is not home and you see a vehicle driving at the back of a property start to think about what they are doing."
The meeting will be held at 7pm with guest speaker Sergeant Andy Stott, Limestone Coast L.S.A. Manager – Crime Prevention, who will make a presentation on the Neighbourhood Watch program.
- RSVP to Linda: onesunnyday57@hotmail.com
