A GROUP of Beleura Hill residents, tired of constant crime in their area of Mornington, have taken matters into their own hands and formed a neighbourhood watch group. The residents had the first meeting of the “Beleura Hill Safe Neighbours” group at Mornington Yacht Club last Monday (8/9) with 66 residents turning up to discuss ways to mitigate what they say is “unacceptable levels of crime” in the Beleura Hill area.
Convenor of the meeting, Stavros Ambatzidis, told The News his property had been subject to continued break-ins over the last 14 months, culminating in a home invasion four weeks ago.
“It began 14 months ago for us with my car being broken into in my driveway,” said Ambatzidis.
“Four weeks later they came back and stole my car. “Then around four weeks ago, three youths broke into my house and walked around for 18 minutes while my son and I were inside asleep. One of them crawled in through a doggy door and then unlocked a door for his friends”.
They stole numerous items from the house, including the remotes to the garage and gate, and then returned three days later, opening the gates and garage and stealing more items. “The theft and criminal activity is just ongoing and escalating,” said Ambatzidis, who blamed lax laws that don’t hold children accountable for their actions. One of the items the thieves stole was a pair of Apple Airpods, which Ambatzidis managed to location track to one of the thieves’ home.
“Where were the kids from? The northern suburbs of Melbourne? Nope… right here in Mornington.”
Ambatzidis’ experience has him wondering if he should just sell up and leave the neighbourhood. Instead, he prepared a letterbox drop to neighbours canvassing if they had similar experiences.
“The response has been overwhelming,” said Ambatzidis. “We’ve had around 200 people from the Beleura Hill area come forward and say they want to be part of trying to stop this crime epidemic being forced onto us.”
Ambatzidis said the first public meeting was to explore ideas such as private CCTV or security patrols to protect people in their area. He also reached out to MP for Mornington, Chris Crewther, who attended the meeting and spoke to the concerned residents. Crewther told The News “People deserve to feel safe in their homes. Unfortunately, under Labor, break-ins, theft and home-invasions are out of control, on the peninsula and across Victoria”.
“Labor has weakened bail laws in Victoria, they removed the tough bail test for robbery and burglary, they’ve slashed $50m from the policing budget in the last year, brought about a 1100+ police officer shortage, reduced Mornington Police Station reception hours, have insufficient consequences for offenders, and have a lack of prevention programs. Meanwhile, they think wasting $13m of taxpayers money on a program for 40 machete bins is a good idea.”
Ambatzidis said the meeting was productive, and the “start of a pro-active movement designed to bring neighbours together”. He also said he had the full support of local police. He believes the neighbourhood watch-style group can adopt practical solutions and share information between residents that hasn’t been possible before.
Ambatzidis has called on residents of the Beleura Hill area of Mornington concerned about crime in their area to get involved in the “Beleura Hill Safe Neighbours” group. Residents can join the Whatsapp or Facebook group or call him on 0409 708000.
First published in the Mornington News – 16 September 2025
