Cafe owner Kristina Natale says not enough is being done to address youth crime after her business was repeatedly targeted by young vandals

A small-business owner repeatedly targeted by young vandals has forked out thousands of dollars to install CCTV cameras and replace stolen property. See the video.

A small-business owner repeatedly targeted by young vandals has forked out thousands of dollars to install CCTV cameras and replace stolen property – says not enough is being done to address youth crime.

Kristina Natale, owner of the Hidden Leaf cafe at Campbelltown, joined the state opposition in calling for incentives to be used to lure police recruits to South Australia.

Ms Natale said she installed CCTV cameras at the front of the business after it was targeted up to six times within a few months.

The vandals had graffitied the outside of the business, as well as stolen or damaged tables and plants and left behind alcohol bottles and smashed glass.

But she said CCTV had not deterred the culprits.

“It’s so frustrating because you see them and you can watch them on your CCTV footage doing it, but you actually can’t do anything about it,” she said.

“You ring the cops and they can’t get there for another couple of hours, and then it’s just a roll-on effect from there.

Vincent Tarzia and John Gardner speak with Kristina Natale at the Hidden Leaf cafe in Campbelltown. Picture: Supplied

“And then you get this footage and you send it in and still nothing gets done. So it’s definitely frustrating.”

The opposition said youth crime had risen by more than 10 per cent between 2021-22 and 2022-23, and called for incentives to address the recruitment shortfall.

“More police officers are abandoning the force than are being recruited. This means officers still working the frontline are being forced to do more with much less and it is a huge load to carry for those men and women,” police spokesman Sam Telfer said.

Hartley MP Vincent Tarzia, who has been working with the Hidden Leaf, said the fight against crime must be a priority for the government.

“In this suburb alone, there were nine instances of property damage, according to the latest SAPOL crime statistics from February,” he said.

“We need to see incentives on the table for new police recruits so we can build our frontline SAPOL force.”

But Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the opposition was scaremongering.

He said a government services report released earlier this year showed that SA has more sworn police officers per capita than anywhere else in the country.

“And, of course, our police force is doing a huge amount of work to recruit more police officers – looking at places like the UK, where they’ve recently had a recruitment campaign,” he said.

Mr Maher said the government was working to keep young people away from the criminal justice system including investigating interventions such as therapy and family support.