North Melbourne residents put a foot down to prevent apartment crime 

While apartment crime in Melbourne has risen during the past year, residents of a North Melbourne apartment block have found a way to make their building more secure and significantly reduce the number of break-ins. 

The chairman of the owners’ corporation (OC) for 150 Peel St, North Melbourne, Sam Nivas told North West City News that the OC had recently implemented new security measures that had curbed the frequency of crime within and surrounding the building. 

Before the measures were put in place, Mr Nivas had noticed an increase in bike and cage theft within the building’s garage, as well as package and mail theft in the foyer. 

In some cases, people broke in with welders to bust open cage locks and take bikes off secured racks. 

To prevent this, alarm systems have been installed at the building’s entry, fire exits, and garage door, along with a greater number of security cameras and lights placed around the premises. 

Mr Nivas has even started making posters with images of people who have broken into the apartment complex and has noticed a decline in the number of break-ins since the measures have been put in place. 

However, he is concerned that other buildings within the area have not adopted the same level of security precautions. 

Mr Nivas believes that the people who break into the buildings target so-called “ghost buildings” – apartment complexes that do not have an active committee and therefore do not have the appropriate preventative measures.

According to the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA), there has been an 11.3 per cent increase in crime incidents in the City of Melbourne, and 1543 criminal incidents were reported in 2024 compared to 1302 the year prior in North Melbourne.

“There has been a 17 per cent increase in theft offences recorded in the past 12 months, driven by the highest ever numbers of steal from a retail store offence, as well as sizable increases in steal from a motor vehicle and burglary offences,” CSA chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said. 

Ms Dowsley believes that these increases involving the acquisition of property may be related to cost-of-living pressures.

To continue to reduce the risk of crime within North Melbourne, Mr Nivas is in the early stages of starting a North Melbourne Neighbourhood Watch, and he is calling on community members to reach out if they are interested in joining. 

Earlier this year, the manager of administration and members’ services at Neighbourhood Watch Victoria Nikoll Peschek told sibling publication Southbank News that Neighbourhood Watch groups were essential in helping educate residents on how to prevent crime.

Metropolitan areas such as North Melbourne, according to Ms Peschek, were predominately made up of apartments and were prone to storage area break-ins, bike theft, car crime and mail theft.

“The number one thing to prevent crime is knowing your neighbour,” she said. “It’s the best way for abnormal behaviour to be detected.”

To help empower people to take
proactive steps to prevent crime in their apartments, Neighbourhood Watch Victoria supported by RACV developed a free online quiz. 

By taking the “How Safe is My Apartment” quiz, residents will have greater awareness of potential security vulnerabilities and will receive a customised report that will address areas for improvement in their apartment and building. •