Police have arrested four people following an aggravated burglary in Wantirna South this morning, 31 January.
It’s alleged four offenders entered a Wallace Street property around 4am.
The residents, a woman and her three young children, were awoken by the sound of their vehicle being driven out of the driveway.
No one was physically injured during the incident.
Local police, with the support of Operation Trinity and the Critical Incident Response Team, conducted extensive patrols of the area and located a stolen vehicle on Mount Dandenong Road in Croydon around 5am.
The vehicle attempted to avoid police, at which point stop sticks were deployed, immobilising the car.
The offenders fled and were arrested after a short foot pursuit
Croydon Divisional Response Unit and Crime Reduction Team charged the offenders with aggravated burglary, theft of motor vehicle.
A 15-year-old male and two 17-year-old males from the Yarra Ranges area and a 15-year-old from the Maroondah area were remanded to appear in a Children’s Court at a later date.
Operation Trinity is solely dedicated to preventing and responding to burglaries and car thefts – running from dusk to dawn across Melbourne each night.
This operation sees uniform police supported by a range of specialist units, including the Dog Squad, Public Order Response and Air Wing.
Operation Trinity has led to the arrest of 627 burglars and car thieves a combined 1,550 times in the past year.
That equates to more than four burglars and car thieves arrested every single day.
While arrests remain high, the primary aim of Operation Trinity is to prevent people having their homes broken into in the first place.
To achieve this, Trinity units conduct a range of disruption activities, including saturating suburbs based on intelligence, intercepting thousands of vehicles each month, and nightly patrols around the homes of Victoria’s most prolific burglars and youth gang members.
These offenders are largely opportunistic by nature – seeking easy access points through unlocked doors and windows.
As such, police implore the community to take simple steps such as locking all doors and windows on your home and car.
