Crime victim calls for better security

The victim of a storage container break-in has been left feeling ripped off, despite the alleged offender being arrested and charged.

Jye Jarvis, who recently purchased his first home with his partner, leased a unit to store possessions ranging from entertainment appliances to new furniture, until they moved into their new home.

Instead, when he opened the door to retrieve his belongings, he discovered it had been broken into only days before, sometime between September 1 and 4.

Up to $3000 worth of items, including a sentimental childhood chest containing possessions "that cannot simply be replaced" were nowhere to be seen.

The burglary and theft was reported to local police. Baw Baw CIU arrested a man in the Trafalgar area driving a Toyota minibus, allegedly stolen from a property in Tarwin St, Warragul.

As reported in the Gazette on September 15, police located a large quantity of stolen property from various locations in the vehicle, allegedly including about half of Mr Jarvis' missing property.

Although he and his partner have now left Baw Baw Shire, Mr Jarvis said his primary motivation in speaking out was to encourage others to assess security at storage facilities.

He said the owner was unaware of the burglary until he informed them.
Signs around the facility indicated CCTV was in place.

After two years at the storage facility without incident, Jarvis said he was disappointed in the timing, just before they were due to move into their new house.
"Where our storage unit is, it's on the right side when you go in… and then there's a bunch of closed units on the left," he said.

"If you had a break-in, you wouldn't break into where ours is. It doesn't make sense."

Mr Jarvis praised the work of local detectives.
"The police are awesome," he said. "I just didn't think we'd get anything back, so the fact that they got the (alleged) person, that's great."
Aware his chances of recovering the remaining items were slim, Jarvis said he now hoped his experience would prompt stronger scrutiny by local storage operators and better protection for customers.