Parents call for CCTV cameras in park after child approached

The parents of a child approached by strangers at one of Brisbane’s most popular playgrounds are campaigning for CCTV cameras to monitor the area.

Charlie Holland said his child was approached by two men in a van with interstate plates at New Farm Park just after 3pm on a Saturday in August.

Police described the incident as “suspicious” and are investigating it as an attempted abduction.

The inner-city New Farm Park is visited by more than 18,000 people each week.Credit: Fairfax Media

“If [the child] had been taken, there would have been no evidence,” Holland said.

He and his wife have started a petition calling for cameras to be installed at the park. By Wednesday morning, it had more than 560 signatures.

“Eighteen-thousand people go through [New Farm Park] every week … I just think it doesn’t make sense that there’s no coverage,” Holland said.

“You can’t cover every square inch, but there are some key areas that you would think should have cameras, like vehicle entry and exit [points].

“It makes sense, especially in light of what just happened … Everyone thought there were already cameras, and everyone’s just absolutely amazed that there isn’t.”

Brisbane City Council has a network of at least 3000 cameras across the city, including 15 at the New Farm Park Library, and 10 at the suburb’s CityCat terminal.

This year, it received a single request for more CCTV cameras at New Farm Park.

In a statement, Cr Fiona Cunningham, the civic cabinet chair for city governance, said the council was doing everything it could to ensure public facilities are safe.

“Unfortunately, crime – especially youth crime – is a growing problem,” she said.

“While crime is a state issue, we’re doing what we can to make our suburbs safer and ensure crime is taken seriously.”

But Holland said the council had shown no willingness to engage with his campaign.

“It was a bit of a dismissive response, saying that some people don’t like cameras,” he said.

“They’ve got a program around extending their CCTV across Brisbane, but New Farm Park is not on the list, which is amazing to me.”