Roebourne police urge Wickham residents to lock up after string of vehicle thefts over Christmas

Wickham residents have been urged by police to lock vehicles and secure property after a string of vehicle thefts and burglaries over the past four weeks. Roebourne police reported six burglaries, four stolen vehicles and three cases of property stolen from unlocked cars in Wickham from December 12 to January 12. The incidents included a vehicle stolen by juveniles crashing into a police car while attempting to flee on Christmas Day. Roebourne police officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Mark Barratt said multiple people had been charged over the police vehicle incident. He said the spike in offenses was due to opportunistic crime. “It seems youths are walking the streets at night looking for vulnerable targets, which includes vehicles with keys in the ignition or inside the car somewhere, or unlocked cars or property not secured in carports and driveways,” he said. “The kids are targeting soft targets so the overwhelming message to the community is to be mindful of property and secure it as best as possible.” Snr Sgt Barratt said police were seeing a lot of children walking the streets at night. “What we’d like is information from the community to assist us in identifying those kids and being the eyes and ears to help us prevent crime and enforce the law,” he said. He said it was important for the community to remember to secure their property. “The overwhelming issue is there’s a degree of complacency in some parts of Wickham and the issue that we’ve got is ... motor cars have been left unsecured, either unlocked or unlocked with the vehicle keys in the ignition, so that’s that’s a problem for us pretty much across the Pilbara,” he said.