“The time for talk is over and we’re watching you.”
That’s the clear message Caloundra residents and businesspeople are sending to criminals after becoming “soft targets” for break-and-enters and theft.
With police numbers in the growing area remaining stagnant for the past 11 years, a public forum was held at the Caloundra Power Boat Club to consider what residents could do to help.
The meeting set an agenda for community members taking matters into their own hands – not via a vigilante group but through the powerful force of CCTV cameras.
The forum was organised by 4 Ingredients founder Kim McCosker – whose own family members were victims of a recent break-and-enter, with three cars stolen from their Pelican Waters home in August.
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The mother-of-three said steps were already being taken to curb crime statistics after a spate of break-ins, property theft and vandalism in Caloundra, and especially Pelican Waters.
“At one stage, I asked for a show of hands of anyone who had been the victim of an attempt or a successful break-and-enter and I reckon it was 30% of the room (30 people),” she told Sunshine Coast News.
“It was overwhelming.
“It wasn’t just residential areas. It was business and industrial.
“There was a lot of people who had tools stolen from worksites and Pelican Waters Development itself has been a victim of a lot of vandalism.”
Ms McCosker said the forum heard that Hamish Pressland, from Pelican Waters Development, was already liaising with Sunshine Coast Council over the installation of a much-needed camera on Pelican Waters Boulevard.
“What we learnt is it is the first of many cameras coming in our area,” she said.
“But they’re not coming from taxpayers’ money. They’re coming from private enterprise and grants.
“No guaranteed date but it’s happening very, very soon.”
The gathering was told that Moreton Bay Council to our south and Queensland Police Service were working together towards implementing a roving CCTV camera that could be moved to identified areas that criminals were targeting. Such an initiative also could work on the Sunshine Coast.
Ms McCosker said that after the meeting, Caloundra Residents Association president Graham Smith also offered to fundraise, or apply for grants for more cameras to act as a deterrent and to catch criminals in the act for possible identification later.
She was impressed with the turnout on a stormy night.
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“There were 90 in attendance – a great cross-section of business, school principals past and present, volunteers, politicians and concerned residents.
“It showed a unified community committed to doing more to protect our area.
“There was no real hysteria and sometimes that’s a problem with a public forum. This forum was fair, balanced and informative.”
In a serendipitous occurrence that Ms McCosker described as “the cherry on top”, she was able to have the ear of Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Charysse Pond in Ipswich last Thursday, December 9.
Ms McCosker had been asked to address 100 retired police officers at Brothers Leagues Club Ipswich in Riverview, as a result of her “one-woman media campaign” to increase police numbers and better inform and protect her community following her family’s break-in on August 9.
“I was able to say to her (Assistant Commissioner Charysse Pond): ‘What does Caloundra have to do (to have more police on the streets)?’.
“She is like, ‘Kim, there are 93 electorates in Queensland screaming out for more police’. And I said, ‘There is no electorate growing faster than Caloundra.
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“‘Fact: Aura is the fastest-growing development in Australia today. We learnt the night before there is something like 49 turnkeys (completed houses) a week. It is that popular, now you’ve got to go into a ballot to maybe be selected. You’ve got to have your finance approved. It is crazy’.
“And she was like: ‘Thank you for bringing this to my attention’.”
Another public forum is scheduled for February 9 with State Member for Caloundra Jason Hunt.
An invitation has been issued to Police and Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan to attend.
