Crime-busting move
Hope Island residents ready to assist police
RESIDENTS on the edge of the Gold Coast’s busiest police district are pushing to set up a Neighbourhood Watch to help keep petty crime at bay.
Hope Island residents Diane Woods and Dean Shelton of the Paradise Point and Northern Districts Progress Association are establishing the watch alongside police in the wake of what they see as major population growth in the Coomera police district.
Ms Woods said an increase in housing brought a jump in crime.
“We have heard (from a residents’ group) there is quite a bit of petty crime in the area, like vandals and thieves,” Ms Woods said.
“We are right at the farthest point of the two police precincts, Coomera and Runaway Bay, with little chance of prompt response.
“I think with the intensification of shoe-box housing, it is just going to explode.”
According to a police crime watch map, the suburb had 268 recorded crimes in the past six months involving theft, property damage and drug offences.
But police said there had been no apparent or obvious increase. Hope Island had just 1 per cent of all crime recorded in the city over six months. The suburb had a Police Beat.
Mr Shelton, a victim of crime, said he was keen to support a Hope Island watch.
“This isn’t a criticism of police. They are doing the best they can in such a huge district,” Mr Shelton said.
“We want to set up the Neighbourhood Watch to deter crime and help police. The community is fed up with what is happening.”
They planned to have a group by the end of this month, to cover from Cova Blvd to Boykambil Esplanade and to Sickle Ave and Hope Harbor Marina.
Police Minister Mark Ryan welcomed the initative but said the Gold Coast crime rate had dropped, according to latest crime figures.