“The theft of fuel has always been an issue for us in country Victoria – crooks know it’s valuable stuff, and at the moment, it’s super valuable,” he said.
“We can only hope as a community the price of fuel for a whole range of reasons comes down because it’s going to have an impact across a whole range of things in our community.
“The flow-on effect from high fuel prices – it really does put a huge ripple through our community.”
Mr Davison said people needed to ensure the security of the fuel on their properties was adequate.
“Leaving equipment miles away from shedding and from places where people live probably isn’t advisable at this point,” he said.
“Obviously there’s times where that’s unavoidable because that’s where the equipment lives, but certainly making sure we aren’t leaving a valuable commodity like diesel just lying around, that’s for sure.
“So, lock up your gear, make sure people have restricted access and that life’s hard for crooks that want come and steal our stuff.”
Mr Davison said police crews had already increased patrols near fuel stations.
“We’ve always battled with people turning up, grabbing fuel and then driving off without paying,” he said.
“We expect that will probably increase, so it’s about us working really closely with those distribution points and making sure they’re doing everything they can as well to record details and restrict access to fuel.
“We’ve got some tasking already underway across the entire division to make sure we are focusing on those particular fuel distribution points to make sure anyone who shouldn’t be there or looks cagey is getting the due attention.”
More police needed
Member for Lowan Emma Kealy said police resourcing was being scaled back in the Wimmera, just as there was significant rise in farm thefts related to the fuel crisis.
She said some stations in the region were having to reduce their hours and patrols due to workforce shortages.
“Over the past few weeks alone, officers in our region have dealt with a murder and related siege in Horsham, a machete and knife attack in a Hamilton supermarket, and numerous incidents of fuel theft, along with rises in family violence incidents, assaults and increased retail thefts over the past 12 months,” she said.
“It’s imperative our region has the police workforce to meet these increasing demands, but already this year we have instead seen stations having to reduce their hours and patrols because Labor has blown billions of dollars on corruption instead of investing in our police force and keeping our communities safe.
“Now our hardworking officers are being stretched even further, forced to cover vast distances with depleted numbers during a period where the region’s population swells.
“This puts enormous pressure on those police who are tasked with covering these areas, and also leaves massive gaps in community safety.”
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