Resident CCTV crime program under threat
A SOUTHERN Gold Coast councillor has warned if residents do not take up the latest crime fighting measures they risk opening the city up to thugs.
Varsity Lakes councillor Hermann Vorster is disappointed that few residents have taken up the opportunity to register their private CCTV cameras with police in an effort to fight crime in the suburbs.
Police have also warned that if uptake is not improved soon, the program would be discontinued.
Varsity Lakes is one of two Gold Coast suburbs which is trialling the Community Camera Alliance program – a trial which began in February.
The program asks residents to register their camera with police.
This allows police to easily work out which homes may have had “eyes on” if a crime occurs in that area – also cutting down on valuable time in high risk situations.
Police figures show that since the trial began in February only 29 homes in Varsity Lakes had signed up for the program. Another 34 have registered in Yatala.
“If locals don’t take up this call we are going to lose it,” Mr Vorster said.
“It will open the door to thugs”. Mr Vorster said he knew there were more than 29 people with CCTV cameras at their home in
Varsity Lakes. He said in an effort to “rev people up” he would be writing to electronics stores like JB Hi-Fi and Bunnings and asking them to give people who purchased a new home CCTV camera system a brochure explaining how to sign up to the trial.
A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said the resident update had been “disappointing thus far”.
“Despite the public launch and
several subsequent awareness campaigns, including letterbox drops and doorknocking residents and business operators in that area, only 63 Varsity Lakes and Yatala residents have registered their CCTV systems,” she said.
“An evaluation of the Gold Coast’s CCA is currently being finalised and subsequent results will be provided to the Safer Suburbs forum to make a determination regarding whether the project will be
expanded and what format it may continue in.”
The spokeswoman said private CCTV was an incredibly valuable tool for police and had led to “thousands of breakthroughs” in criminal cases across the Gold Coast.