Police are encouraging small and medium business owners in the Launceston area to bank their cash deposits and not to leave large amounts of cash on business premises.

The warning comes after several businesses have been targeted in recent weeks and thieves have stolen several thousands of dollars in cash out of safes. In one recent case $4,000 in cash was removed from a safe during a burglary.

“Cash is an ideal target for thieves,” said Inspector Johnston.

“It is generally not identifiable as belonging to a particular person or organisation; it is easily disposed of and can disappear very quickly.”

“While organisations continue to store larger sums of cash on business premises, there is a very strong incentive for thieves to continue targeting these types of premises,” he said.

Police urge businesses, small and large, and other organisations that hold reasonable amounts of cash to make arrangements to ensure that their cash is removed from the premises and placed in a bank or similar, which in turn will deter these thieves.

Power tools of all shapes, sizes and uses are also currently being targeted by thieves. Tradesman’s vehicles and work sites are the targets of choice for the theft of power tools.

Police have successfully recovered a reasonable quantity of tools, but struggle in many cases to identify the owners of the property and are unable to return it to them.

Police urge owners of power tools to ensure that they are secured as well as possible and that they are marked for identification by the owner.

One preferred method is to engrave or mark the tools with the letter ‘T’ indicating Tasmania followed by the owners drivers licence number. This is an easy to follow, unique identifier allowing for the return of property recovered by police and potentially deterring thieves, as marked items may be harder to dispose or sell on.