An alleged drug trafficker, two young males carrying hunting knives and a pair of thieves stealing from a department store were among 200 people arrested at shopping centres as part of a boosted safety effort during the winter school holidays.
Operation Pulse involves police and Protective Services Officers (PSOs) patrolling Melbourne and Geelong's major shopping centres in an effort to prevent crime, detect any offences and improve safety.
Patrols were boosted over the busy school holiday period, seeing all nine centres covered daily.
Throughout the school holidays, 209 people were arrested with about 400 charges laid. Majority of the charges related to thefts from retail outlets.
- Two males, a 21-year-old from Mickleham and a 20-year-old from Attwood who were located in a carpark of a shopping centre after allegedly ditching two bags they were carrying. Police located the bags which contained two large hunting knives and drugs, including cocaine and cannabis.
- Two 31-year-olds, a male and a female, both from Parkville, were arrested after police were alerted to an alleged theft from a department store. The pair was located by officers after a brief foot chase. A search of the pair located more than $1,000 in items stolen from the store, a small quantity of methamphetamine and a stolen bank card.
- A 36-year-old man from Parkdale was charged with drug trafficking and weapon offences after reports were made about someone allegedly harassing people outside a shopping centre. Police located the man and a search uncovered a traffickable quantity of 1-4 Butanediol, a small payment device, mobile phone and a knife.
With school holidays all wrapped up, Operation Pulse will continue with four of the nine shopping centres receiving daily patrols.
Plans are underway to ensure the expanded approach to all nine centres will occur during the next school holidays and high demand periods.
This includes Pacific Werribee, Bayside Frankston, Highpoint, Fountain Gate, Northland, Watergardens, Southland, Eastland and key CBD retail locations in Geelong.
All shifts are voluntary, meaning there is no impact on the rail networks or frontline policing as officers are working at shopping centres in addition to existing shifts.
Since the operation commenced in December last year, more than 1,600 people have been arrested, facing more than 3,300 charges for crimes at shopping centres.
243 weapons have been seized throughout the operation.
Those arrested include prolific shop lifters, offenders carrying weapons, and criminals in stolen cars in shopping centre car parks.
Key Operation Pulse statistics since 8 December:
- 1,620 arrests
- 3,303 charges laid, with shop steal (1,634) and drug offences (272) most common
- 285 drug seizures.
- 243 weapons seized.
- 663 cautions issued.
- 558 fines issued.
- 24,734 vehicles checked.
Quotes attributable to Operation Pulse Acting Assistant Commissioner Matt Baynes:
"This was a peak time for our shopping centres, so it was important that both retailers and shoppers had a sense of safety and security.
"Operation Pulse is already seeing a bolstering of resources at shopping centres, and we will look to further this during peak times such as school holidays and Black Friday sales moving forward.
"There is no doubt Operation Pulse is improving safety at shopping centres, with significant offending having been prevented."
