{"id":582261,"date":"2026-04-03T05:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582261\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T05:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:52:14","slug":"police-arrest-a-dozen-people-in-operation-targeting-soaring-ballarat-car-thefts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582261\/","title":{"rendered":"Police arrest a dozen people in operation targeting soaring Ballarat car thefts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Police have arrested 12 people during a major operation launched in response to a rise in car thefts in Ballarat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Local police teamed up with specialist units including the Air Wing and Dog Squad for the blitz, which also targeted high-risk driving.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Two police officers in navy uniforms with bright yellow vests hold the arms of a man with a bare torso and dark pants at night.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/567754764ae0cde5c509570dd38c7538.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">A man is facing several charges including dangerous driving while being pursued by police. (Supplied: Victoria Police)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Among those arrested were two 18-year-olds after officers on patrol in Ballarat East spotted an allegedly stolen car travelling at speed late on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The helicopter followed the vehicle to Mount Pleasant where two occupants fled on foot to a nearby property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A man from the Ballarat suburb of Canadian who police allege was the driver has been charged with dangerous driving while being pursued by police, car theft and licensing offences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A woman was charged with car theft, drug possession and possessing an imitation firearm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Both were released on bail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The two-night operation comes as car thefts reach decade highs in the Ballarat area.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A person leans into the front seats of a white car, shining a torch at something in the interior at night.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8edb63c71207dc1edbf734e2e1c287dc.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">A police officer inspects a car that was seized during the operation. (Supplied: Victoria Police)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;While the community slept, we had scores of police patrolling the Ballarat area from both the ground and the sky,&#8221; Detective Senior Sergeant Elissa Smith said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Car thefts remain a significant concern for police and we will continue to run these targeted operations to remove reckless cars from the roads.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">She urged the community to take steps to protect themselves from car thieves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Such as installing on-board diagnostic port locks, parking off-street where possible and always locking doors and windows,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Police seized four cars they alleged were stolen and issued five traffic fines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have arrested 12 people during a major operation launched in response to a rise in car thefts&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45387,58039,1108,33682,43,44,118901,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-582261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-arrest","9":"tag-car-theft","10":"tag-court","11":"tag-dangerous-driving","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-police-operation","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}