Stolen Car Flips After Late-Night Police Pursuit in Lane Cove

If you were awake around 1.50 am Friday, 6 March 2026 (as ITC was) you would have heard lots of sirens coming from Longueville.

At that time, officers from the North Shore Police Area Command were patrolling the Longueville area when they located and attempted to stop a stolen vehicle travelling on Kenneth Street, Longueville.

Routine patrols have been occurring in the Longueville and Riverview area due to the number of attempted break-ins and stolen high-performance vehicles in the upper and lower north shore (see below).

When the vehicle failed to stop, a pursuit was initiated.  The pursuit was terminated a few seconds later due to safety concerns.

The CCTV below was posted on our Facebook page – see the car speeding by along William Edward Street, Longueville.

Police Find Car On Its Roof Sutherland Street

Just before 2 am, officers located the vehicle, which had crashed and rolled onto its roof, abandoned on Sutherland Street, at Lane Cove.

The driver lost control on Cox Lane and skidded into the curb before hitting the sandstone blocks on Sutherland Street.

Transport for NSW required Sutherland Street to become a cul-de-sac with a limited entrance to Coxs Lane as part of the Burns Bay and Tambourine Bay/Cox Lane Lights. Lane Cove Council planted a garden and installed large sandstone blocks.  One of the blocks was pushed about 3 metres.

By the time the police found the car, the driver had fled the scene.  Police searched the area but failed to locate the driver, and a crime scene was established.

The police seized the vehicle for forensic examination and towed it away.  However, they did not get all of the vehicle with the wheel in our cover photo, still lying on Sutherland Street.

Background to Stolen Vehicles on the North Shore

On Wednesday, 5th November 2025, Lane Cove Council, in conjunction with the North Shore Area Command Police, held a community workshop on safety in Lane Cove.

The speaker was Senior Constable Dom Trevor, the Crime Prevention Officer located at Chatswood Police Station.  Snr Constable Trevor said the North Shore PAC had three police stations in its area: Chatswood, North Sydney, and Mosman.

At the community workshop was a group of residents from Riverview who have been experiencing attempted break-ins in their area every two to three weeks by a group of young men, all wearing masks and hoodies.  They were particularly interested in accessing vehicles parked in carports, but they had also attempted to break into houses, and one of them had an axe.

Strike Force Sweetenham

During the community safety meeting, Senior Constable Dom Trevor, mentioned that the police were well aware of groups targeting suburbs where there were luxury cars and that Strike Force Sweetenham had been set up. He noted that the police believe that youths are paid money to steal cars for crime gangs.

Strike Force Sweetenham targets:

• Theft of motor vehicles, especially high-end/luxury and high-performance cars
• Break-in offences linked to vehicle theft, where offenders often enter properties to steal keys or vehicles.
• Criminal groups/youth crime networks involved in the thefts.

The NSW Police 2024/2025 Annual Report, released in September 202,5 noted:

“North West Metropolitan Region (NWMR) continued with the highly successful Strike Force Sweetenham, targeting aggravated break and enter offences, the theft of luxury high performance vehicles and links to organised crime. During the reporting period, Strike Force Sweetenham was expanded to include resources from CMR and preferred 1,517 charges against 265 offenders.”

Man Arrested for Allegedly Recruiting Youths

In January 2026, NSW Police arrested two boys for allegedly stealing vehicles.

This action led to the arrest of a 22-year-old Rivestone man for allegedly recruiting youths to steal cars in exchange for money.  Read more here.

Stolen Cars Used in Robberies

On ITC reported the following in March 2025: