Surry Hills crime scares business owners

A recent spate in break-ins throughout Surry Hills has local businesses worried they are next.

Police have confirmed an increase in robberies of homes and businesses in the neighbourhood since June.

Detective Inspector, Jason Weinstein of Surry Hills Police said: “Since June there has been a slight increase in break-enters between the Cleveland Street, Elizabeth Street, Crown Street and Albion Street areas including both residential and commercial premises.”

Mac Centre sales assistant, Sam Cochrane is worried that their shop may targeted again. He said:

“One of the biggest robberies we had was last year, where they took $20 000 worth of stock.”

“The scary thing is they seemed to be very calculated. It looked like they knew exactly what to do and where to find everything in the shop.”

An increase in robberies has ensured higher insurance premiums for businesses.

Mr Cochrane said that in some cases the cost of claiming through insurance costs more than losing items.

“Sometimes it is not worth paying the insurance; the excess cost in a claim can be greater than the merchandise stolen,” he said. “Once you have made a claim, your insurance premiums also go up.”

Mr Weinstein said extra officers have been deployed where crimes are occurring.

“We have uniform police patrolling and visiting shop owners with extra deployments of police into areas where these crimes are occurring,” he said.

Shop assistant, Henry Lee of Surry Hills Supermarket has since changed his trading hours to feel safe. Mr Lee said:

“I was threatened with a screw-driver to my neck in 2009 which took me a long time to get over.

“We are too scared to open all night, so now we trade from 7am to midnight instead of 24 hours, losing our early morning customers.”

With a crackdown on loitering in the Surry Hills area, police are ensuring suspicious people are stopped and searched. Mr Winstein said:

“Police are using powers to stop and search people who are loitering or acting suspiciously. This resulted in an arrest of a male possessing stolen property and implements used to break into premises.”

One individual has been charged for a large number of break-in offenses.

“We believe that at least one person charged in July was responsible for a large number of the offences based on the method of entry into premises,” Mr Winstein said.

A police Facebook page has been set up to allow the community to communicate with police at any time.

By Vanessa Bartlett