Richa Walla and her mother Rekha Walla were victims of a nasty home invasion in Caroline Springs. Credit:Paul Jeffers "They came in and started screaming, turned the lights on themselves. My parents and I came down and faced them. They just demanded car keys from us." Ms Walia said the most frightening thing was the men weren't scared at all. "They were holding weapons ...and we felt so unsafe in our own home." Last year, an exclusive Deloitte Tract study ranked Caroline Springs at 313 on a liveability list of suburbs, with crime cited as a big problem.

Crime in the 3023 postcode increased by more than 17 per cent in the four years to 2016, according to the latest Crime Statistics Agency data. Lorelle Wood, who has lived in the area for 14 years, said she had to install CCTV cameras after a spate of crime in the neighbourhood. "In the last two years, my car was broken into, my neighbour across the road, their car and their house was broken into," Ms Wood said. "There has been a lot of home invasions in the area." Ms Wood, who was at the rally with her six-year-old son and two neighbours, said they all kept an eye on each other's property.

"I have never been scared before ...I sleep with one eye open now," she said. The western suburbs have seen a surge in home invasions and car jackings in the recent months. Holding placards reading "Safe Streets" and "Need Police", the crowds jeered and heckled police and politicians, upper house member for Western Metropolitan Cesar Melhem and upper house member Bernie Finn, for the lack of police presence and the time it took for them to respond. "Where's the police commissioner?" one woman asked. "Out to lunch?" Cesar Melhem said he was also a local resident and worried about his family's safety.

"I have got a 17-year-old, and every time he goes out, I wonder what he is doing, who he is mixing with and when he is going to get home safe," Mr Melhem said. "I know exactly what you are going through. My next door neighbour got robbed this week."



One resident, Paulo Penailillo, says he once called triple zero five times without response. He asked Victoria Police North-West local commander Russell Barrett if he should "get a gun" to defend his own home. Commander Barrett, who at times struggled to be heard over the heckling crowd, said the offending was outrageous. He said it was particularly worrying that the nature of offenders was changing and they were becoming more brazen. Police Association Victoria chief executive Ron Iddles said the main issue was the lack of police resources in the area.

"We have been talking to police officers for five months now, and on the ground they are stretched to the limit. They are doing the best they can with the resources they have got, but not every call they receive that they can attend. "This is about community safety now, which is a government issue now." Mr Iddles said the government had committed for 300 more police personnel across Victoria, but that would take a few months to come into effect. Residents were also asked to signed petitions that will be presented in the Parliament.