Maribyrnong Council has suffered another blow in its fight to protect its Yarraville parking meters from vandalism following the Saturday night theft of cameras installed to catch any vandals in the act.
About five of the motion-sensitive camera traps went up last week but were unable to stop a vandal or vandals causing thousands of dollars of damage in the third major attack on Yarraville’s parking meters in a fortnight.
A number of machines in Canterbury and Ballarat Streets were smashed overnight Wednesday in a dramatic repeat of a similar attack a week earlier.
Both attacks follow the filling with Liquid Nails construction adhesive of the coin and credit card slots of about a dozen of the machines on the eve of the machines coming into operation.
The vandals struck despite an increase in surveillance and patrols by police and Maribyrnong Council.
A sign asking “Who are you spying on us?” had earlier been stuck over one of the cameras.
Senior Detective Brendan O’Mahoney, who is leading the investigation, said police were following up numerous lines of inquiry.
“It’s public property and expensive equipment. We will be following a number of leads,” he said. “We’re asking anyone with information to contact CrimeStoppers.”
The Yarraville Village Says No To Paid Parking group condemned the theft of the cameras and has distanced itself from the vandalism.
Maribyrnong Council and police have been contacted for comment.
