A highly publicised raid on a Yarraville warehouse by Victoria Police last week uncovered tens of thousands of illegal DVDs and was the second such haul in recent months since police seized close to 100 CD burners and 25,000 discs from a Footscray store in February.

West Footscray Network Video manager Blaise Smith believes piracy in the area is at an all-time high with illegal copies of films just released in the country readily available in suburban shops.

"Every second milk bar is stocking illegal DVDs these days," he said.

"These businesses factor in the prospect of getting caught. They get shut down and soon after they just set back up. Because the fine is so small compared to what they make, in the end it's not really going to stop them."

Mr Smith said he understood that the issue might not be a massive priority for local police busy with drug and violence issues, but he was disappointed with the lack of support.

"I've always got a cold response, the local police haven't been that interested, and then I've contacted video rental associations and they've told me to contact the local police, so I just end up running around in circles."

Inspector Ian Geddes acknowledged that DVD piracy was not among Victoria Police's main priorities but denied there was a piracy problem specific to the Footscray and Yarraville areas. "Our strategic priorities revolve around endeavouring to make life safer in the region, so video piracy probably sits outside our strategic priorities for that reason," he said. "The fact we've had some piracy arrests in our region is more a matter of the good work being done by our people out here. Other areas aren't achieving the same results."

Mr Smith said he had had to expand his business to other areas to combat the loss of revenue due to the drastically reduced prices of his illegal competitors. "It

is impacting my business. If you're selling milk and bread and you're competing with someone next door who's getting theirs cheaper from illegal means, it doesn't matter what you do, you can't compete."