KAREN COLLIER, JON KAILA
NOVEMBER 01, 2013
HERALD SUN
The number of people that drive off without paying at Tracey Cook’s Geelong petrol station has risen since changes to the way police investigate fuel thefts. Source: News Limited
POLICE Minister Kim Wells has written to top cop Ken Lay asking for an explanation of its stance on fuel thefts.
The Herald Sun has exclusively obtained confidential documents showing the minister is “seeking advice” and “information” from Victoria Police over reports it is no longer investigating complaints about motorists driving off without paying for petrol.
The force implemented a new policy from July 1 that it would investigate fuel thefts only if the vehicle in question was stolen, or bearing stolen registration plates, or the registered owner was a known criminal.
If no registration plates can be seen, the advice to officers is that no crime should be recorded.
The Australian Association of Convenience Stores, which represents more than 1000 service stations across Victoria, is pleading with the State Government to intervene, saying “criminals have been given a green light to steal”.
The Police Minister’s office confirmed he had written to Chief Commissioner Ken Lay last month but had not yet received the advice sought.
“In the meantime, this issue remains an operational matter for police,” ministerial spokesman Emily Broadbent said.
AACS chief Jeff Rogut said police were “going soft” on the problem.
“You go into Coles or Woolworths or Myer and steal a lipstick and they will charge you for shoplifting,” he said.
“Yet you can fill up your car with $60 or $70 and drive out at high speed, at potential danger to people, and it’s ‘Sorry, it’s a civil matter’.”
But Detective Superintendent Kevin Sheridan said the companies were “pushing poor business practices on to police in order to become civil debt collectors”.
“I receive an email every day on the intelligence reports filed and monitor them closely,” he said.
“If I think any of them need further investigation, I take it up personally with the relevant station manager.”
The executive director of the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, David Purchase, said he was aware of petrol drive-offs at one suburban independent site rising from an average of one a week to seven a week since July.
On Thursday, APCO service stations successfully sought a court order to obtain from VicRoads the details of 25 registered car owners suspected of stealing $1700 worth of petrol.
It claims “desperation” over the police policy shift had forced it to pursue the court order.
“In our view this policy is obviously encouraging petrol theft and that’s not in the interests of the community,” APCO co-director Robert Anderson said.
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