Vigilante fears as inner-north residents claim victim to crime wave

Residents of Watson and Downer say they are scared and frustrated after months of alleged break-ins, thefts and harassment have been ignored by police.

Downer resident Scott Sparkman said his border collie Indie went missing when young men allegedly broke into his yard.

On Tuesday morning, Mr Sparkman said he woke to find the back gate "chopped open with a plumber's plunger". CCTV footage appeared to show Indie running off.

"When I checked the security footage, I was furious. I was so angry that we've been broken into," Mr Sparkman said.

After a day of putting up posters, flooding social media and searching, Indie could not be found.

"No one had seen her, which is really strange because usually she goes up to everybody; she's such a friendly dog," Mr Sparkman said.

He said a man from Ainslie Village called and said he found Indie on Wednesday morning.

"Indie had a makeshift lead out of a skipping rope tied around her neck, and she was also hoarse from obviously barking all night," Mr Sparkman said.

He said he received many messages and calls from neighbours claiming they had been subject to criminal behaviour, such as cars and houses being broken into.

"In recent days and months, it's been a bit of a crime wave going through," he said.

Mr Sparkman said police seemed uninterested when he called them.

After speaking to The Canberra Times Mr Sparkman said he followed up with police and received a job number. He said they requested his CCTV footage.

Watson residents have also complained of increased alleged criminal behaviour in recent months.

Dan Nash said he was broken into five times between September last year and February. The carpenter said he has CCTV footage of a thief stealing $10,000 worth of his tools.

"I feel unsafe in my own home, I'm not sleeping properly. I can't work without my tools and I can't afford to replace them all," he said.

Mr Nash claimed he knows who the alleged thief is and recently called the police on him. "I caught him trying to break into houses in the middle of the day two weeks ago," he said, saying they did not turn up.

In June 2022, some crimes - including property - moved to online reporting in the ACT.

ACT police said this was to provide another option for reporting, in line with other jurisdictions.

In 2021, ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said about the move:

"If someone is at your house, we will be there. But if you find out your house has been broken into and there's no obvious signs, forensic evidence, we will be asking people to do an online report."

Mr Nash received a letter from Chief Minister Andrew Barr on February 14.

"I want to assure residents the government has heard you and is acting to improve the situation as quickly as possible," the letter said. "In the past fortnight there have been proactive search warrants undertaken in the Knox Street area [regarding] illicit drug dealing."

Another Watson resident, Tom Corra, said people had been shining lights into windows, trying to steal cars and breaking into houses on his street in recent months.

"The whole neighbourhood has been impacted," Mr Corra said. "We have witnessed continuous abuse at the shops. It's almost relentless. Most locals are now avoiding the Watson shopping precinct out of fear."

Father Henry Mazur claimed he'd seen people shoot up in the car park of his son's Watson daycare, and seen syringes all around the suburb.

The head of the Watson Community Association, Geoff Murray-Prior, said locals believe there is frequent drug dealing and use at Watson shops in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Murray-Prior said people, especially older women, were being harassed at the shops for money or food.

"There are just a small number of people involved and, unfortunately, they are probably homeless people or people who are out of work. I think it is a social problem as much as a policing problem," he said.

Mr Murray-Prior said he would meet Homelessness Minister Rebecca Vassarotti and ACT Policing next week.

An ACT Policing spokesperson said they were "aware of community concerns regarding crime in Watson".

"Where operational priorities allow police will conduct regular patrols in the Watson area, but it is important to note that crime in the ACT is not limited to one suburb or region," they said.

ACT police said offences reported for Watson decreased by 23.8 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

There were more reports of crimes, including burglaries, stolen vehicles and property damage, in Watson and Downer during the last quarter of 2023 compared with the year before.

However, there was a significant dip in these crimes in those months of 2022 compared to the three previous years.

Some residents told The Canberra Times they knew who the alleged criminals were.

Mr Sparksman said others in the community wanted to "take matters into [their] own hands".

"I was contacted by several people who said, 'I'm keen to help you if you want to find them'," he said.

"That's not our job, but it's not uncommon in the area for people to feel that way.

"They're so brazen, they don't care even about covering their faces, they don't care about security cameras.

"A lot of people are angry."