Moving camera to cost up to $30,000

TRC orders mobile CCTV trailer

THE Toowoomba Regional Council will soon have a mobile CCTV trailer that could be deployed into crime hot spots where there isn’t surveillance.

The council’s environment and community department announced the new trailer, worth about $30,000, would be in use before Christmas.

“The mobile CitySafe camera trailer has been ordered and that’s to monitor areas where we don’t have permanent cameras,” environmental health services manager Kevin Jefferies told the councillors in the meeting yesterday.

“It’s just another tool, it’s not the solution, for some of our hot spots.”

Cr Nancy Sommerfield praised the concept, suggesting places where it could be put to use first.

“I take great interest in the mobile CCTV trailer, because I have a great spot for it at the new Emu Creek waste facility,” she said.

“We’ve had to replace the chain and lock regularly.

“It’s very frustrating we can’t do anything right now about vandals at our tips.”

The purchase comes about two months after the council revealed it had dumped a controversial facial recognition technology plan as part of its CCTV network.

Cr Geoff McDonald told The Chronicle the council expected to work with the Queensland Police Service and other groups with the use of the mobile trailer.

“We work closely with the police and they can ask if it can be used to supplement their use,” he said.

“This is an opportunity to deploy it in various ways – it might actually be used to monitor how things are happening in certain areas where there isn’t permanent surveillance.

“If there’s an event or something on and it’s in an area where there is no monitoring, we can deploy it.”

The trailer was funded through the CitySafe program rollout.