Alleged prolific thieves targeting shops and vehicles are among a dozen people arrested during a two-day crime crackdown in Port and South Melbourne.
Uniform police from South Melbourne and St Kilda, as well as detectives from the Prahran Divisional Response Unit patrolled the streets of both suburbs last week, accompanied by a Passive Alert Detection (PAD) dog.
People in the street were approached at random by the PAD dog, who detected anyone in possession of illicit substances.
Others who were already known to police were proactively spoken to at their places of residence, or stopped in the street when sighted by police if they had any outstanding warrants or whereabouts.
The operation resulted in:
- 11 arrests
- 18 warrants cleared, relating to theft, assault, burglary, family violence breaches, drug possession, and possessing stolen items and failing to answer bail
- Nine whereabouts cleared.
Of note:
- A 47-year-old man from Melbourne was arrested over a series of alleged burglaries and thefts from cars in the Port Phillip area last month. He was charged with burglary and criminal damage, and was bailed to appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 25 May 2026.
- A 45-year-old man from St Kilda was arrested over a spate of alleged shop thefts in South Melbourne. He was charged with six counts of shop steal, and two counts of commit indictable offences whilst on bail. He was bailed to appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 25 May 2026.
- A 35-year-old woman from South Melbourne was arrested over outstanding warrants relating to alleged theft, shop steal, burglary and drug possession offences. She was bailed to appear in Moorabbin Magistrate's Court on 22 January 2026.
Similar operations will continue in the future to detect, disrupt and deter crime in the area.
Quotes attributable to Port Phillip Local Area Commander Acting Inspector Travis Costelow:
"Antisocial behaviour such as drug and theft offences have an impact on the daily lives of residents and visitors to the area.
"We know the community wants to see more police, and highly visible operations such as this are key to increasing safety.
"Our priority is to not only ensure that members of the community are safe, but that they also feel safe, especially when they are in public areas.
"As part of our ongoing commitment to reducing crime in the area, we are continuing to target alleged repeat offenders to reduce harm in our community.
"Shop thefts really hurt local businesses, and can often increase prices for customers.
"Attending court while on bail is not optional. If you fail to attend, then a warrant will be issued, and we will be proactive in following those warrants up.
"Ignoring outstanding warrants only makes the situation worse. We encourage anyone with a warrant to come and present themselves to their local police so we can deal with it quickly."
