PORTLAND police are feeling a little in the dark after an opportunistic crook stole two strobe lights from a preliminary breath testing site on Friday night.
Detective Acting Sergeant Jason von Tunk, of the Portland police crime investigation unit, said a single Portland highway patrol officer was manning a PBT site last Friday night about 10pm when he had to chase a car which went through the site at the intersection of Cliff and Glenelg streets.
"A car was driven through the site, the officer chased that car and performed a PBT, which returned a negative reading, and when he returned to the PBT site the two sets of red and blue strobe lights were missing," he said.
"The strobe lights are a warning that a site is being manned by police and they're used for occupational health and safety of police officers. A searched of the immediate area was undertaken but the two sets of lights were not located."
Detective Acting Sergeant von Tunk said each set of strobe lights was valued at quite a few hundreds of dollars.
"They can't be used for anything else other than warning lights, not even for a disco. We're appealing to public for assistance or to help us locate the lights. No witnesses have come forward and we're now appealing through the media for public assistance," he said.
Hamilton detectives are also on the move in the hunt for a missing five-speed gearbox.
Detective Acting Sergeant Mark James, of the Hamilton police crime investigation unit, said the five-speed manual gearbox from a Holden VP model vehicle, was stolen from a wreckers in Hamilton's Port Fairy Road during the weekend.
He said the car was an early 1990s model and the gearbox, which was valued at about $450, was not common.
Anyone with information about the gearbox or the missing strobe light is requested to contact Hamilton or Portland police stations or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
