Barwon Local Area Commander, Gelina Talbot encouraged any victim who had received unsolicited calls in relation to the return of their property to contact police as it was highly likely the caller was responsible or had knowledge as to the perpetrators of the crime.

Offering and paying rewards in return for the recovery of stolen property encourages crime in our community and perpetuates the cycle of stolen goods.

It can be hard for residents, who for some reason may not be covered by insurance, or have lost sentimental items, to pass up such an offer but would these people really return the goods anyway?

Wouldn’t they just take the money and run? 

After all, they are criminals!

I know some people would be very tempted to ‘act out’ if they did get the chance to come face to face with the person/s responsible for stealing their hard-earned items, so I would think these criminals best watch their backs.

The sad thing is, this would only create more problems for the victim, and probably land them at court, rather than the criminals.

Superintendent Talbot said police recognise the value of a victim’s property and their need for recovery but asked if contacted to make arrangements for the finder to return the property to their nearest police station so that the validity of the finder could be confirmed.

Any resident who has been contacted for a reward is urged to contact police as soon as possible so further investigations can be made.