Taking it to the streets
Push for residents to get on front foot
A CAIRNS man is leading the charge to unite residents concerned about crime in the city for a major community event.
Attila Feher-Holan, who launched the Cairns Safe Knights group just over a year ago, has called on residents to “get out from behind their keyboards” and join forces at a public meeting at Woree next month to address spiralling property crime issues.
The Safe Knights group has staged regular night community walks in an effort to deter offenders who may be out on the streets, but Mr FeherHolan said the February 3 event at Pezzutti Park was about bringing together city leaders, crime prevention groups and residents.
“It’s about saying enough is enough and what can we do to help,” he said. “I’m hopeful and I have faith in the community enough to do this.
“The main thing is to gather the community together, get out from behind the keyboards and turn up.”
Mr Feher-Holan said this was not about vigilante action, it was “about hope” and believed his community walks have had an impact on crime figures, particularly in the White Rock area.
He said he had compiled statistics from police resources which he would share with residents at the rally to give them a better snapshot of crime in the city.
“We’ll also be handing out information kits about how to better protect your family and neighbourhood,” he said.
Speaking earlier in the week, Far North police detective Acting Inspector Kevin Goan said community support was key to fighting back against property crime.
“What we call upon now is the public’s approach, and that is ensure that your premises is locked up, that your cars are locked at night, that your keys are hidden out of the usual places that offenders may locate them,” he said.
“Help reduce the risk of your vehicles being stolen.
“We also ask that the community take the active approach which we do enjoy in North Queensland where they get on the phone, they contact Crime Stoppers, they contact police and tell the authorities what they are seeing in the community to help us build a picture and enable us to respond with the resources that we have to combat crime.”
Cairns’ property crime squad have charged a total of 468 people with 1280 offences within the past six months.
The city has faced a major car theft issue with more than 760 stolen during 2017.
Police figures showed a jump of 31 per cent in car thefts around the Far North during the past financial year. Acting Insp Goan said police had “no intelligence” about residents considering vigilante action and urged concerned residents to follow lawful channels rather than taking matters into their own hands.
“What I do say is what we see with vigilantes is they are motivated towards an outcome and that outcome can be achieved through contacting police or Crime Stoppers to simply report what they are seeing and what it is they know about the offences occurring within the communities,” he said. For more information about the public meeting go to www.facebook.com/cairnssafeknightscommunity