Raiders prompt security upgrade

ANOTHER senseless break-in at Lawson Poole Reserve on Saturday night was the final straw for Mayfield Ward councillor Kevin Bradford.
Cr Bradford, who is president of the Cranbourne Little Athletics Club, successfully passed an urgent notice of motion at Casey council on Tuesday night to have security immediately upgraded at the facility.
The Lawson Poole Reserve is tenanted by Cr Bradford’s athletics club, Cranbourne Meadows Cricket Club, Casey Spirit Soccer Club and a number of other community groups, including Auskick and Step Into Life.
The Lesdon Avenue pavilion has been broken into 12 times in the past eight months.
Little athletics secretary Linda Gladstone said enough was enough and urged the council to install new steel cages sooner rather than later. “We need all the pavilion windows to be properly secured with steel cages,” she said.
“Locks only keep honest people out and if council doesn’t act soon, we’ll be targeted again.”
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, crooks jemmied a padlock latch to enter the pavilion and stole a microwave, shattered the cricket club’s glass refrigerator and took $800 worth of alcohol, soft drinks and icy poles.
“It’s just mindless theft and all the clubs associated with Lawson Poole have had enough,” Ms Gladstone said.
Cranbourne police said witnesses saw four cars in the area at the time, including a red Holden Commodore VN sedan.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Cranbourne Criminal Investigation Unit on 5991 0661. – Glen Atwell