Business owners could receive for $40,000 CCTV investment in Callide under LNP election promise

Despite small populations and relatively low crime rates, business owners from Miles and Jandowae have expressed their support for a $40,000 investment into CCTV on the towns’ main streets. Hear from some of the business owners.

Miles and Jandowae’s local businesses have thrown their support behind the LNP’s plans to install two brand new security cameras in the towns’ main streets.

Despite having populations of 1900 and 1000 respectively, and relatively low crime rates, the town's business owners believe the cameras could act as a deterrence and help keep local shops and residents safe.

The investment comes as part of the LNPs Making Our Community Safer Plan with the incumbent Bryson Head planning to invest the $40,000 in the CCTV to help tackle the growing concern of youth crime across Queensland.

“This announcement will benefit the local communities of Jandowae and Miles and assist with making these towns a safer place to live,” he said in a press release.

Safe suburbs statistics showed Jandowae recorded 273 offences in 2023, far below the state average of 420.

Despite this between the years of 2017 and 2023 annual assaults rose from two to 15, similarly serious assaults increased from one to eight.

Sexual assaults and rape both rose from zero to two and unlawful entry from eight to 10.

Clint Nelson said he is in support of the cameras

In Jandowae Nelson Family Meats owner Clint Nelson said he was in support of the cameras, which he believed would help deter offenders.

“It is a great idea, there's been a few times where these people from out of town roll in, break in and disappear and if you had a few cameras to know what vehicles were about it gives you a chance to catch up with them,” he said.

“I have my own cameras, a fair percentage of the town’s business have them, the pub has them, the cafe has them, the petrol station has them.

“There’s no more crime than there’s ever been, you'll always have little s--ts rolling around, the ones who concern me the most are the out of town ones. We’ve been broken into a few times over the years and it wasn't locals, they just rolled through hit three or four businesses then left.

“I look forward to it, I hope they come to fruition. We don't need many, one on the intersection in town and one watching vehicles coming in and out of town and you’re three-quarters of the way there.

“If you aren't doing anything wrong then you don't need to worry about a camera.”

The Exchange Hotel on Jandowae’s main street. Pic John Wilson

A spokeswoman from Jandowae Exchange Hotel on High St said while they already have cameras installed, they too were for the idea of more surveillance.

“We are a pub so we sort of need them, they aren’t a bad idea it is a good preventive measure and if anything does happen we can access it to see what happened,” she said.

“Occasionally we have issues, I think every place that serves alcohol can have that happen, it depends on who comes in, sometimes it is random people from out of town who might cause trouble.

“Everyone has their different ideas on how money can be spent but If they are going to spend it on cameras it might deter people from committing crimes which could save money in the long run.”

COUNTRY VIBES: The town of Miles is located on the Western Downs west of Chinchilla. Pic: Supplied

Meanwhile data from Miles showed 611 offences in 2023, however unlike Jandowae there has been a steady decrease in crime since 2017.

Miles saw a significant drop in assaults with 12 cases compare to 25 in 2017 while serious assaults dropped from 11 to three.

Robberies, sexual assaults, thefts and unlawful entries also saw a steep decline.

This decrease in crime had one local business owner saying she was on the fence on whether the cameras were worth the investment.

“Maybe it's worth it, I don't know if we have that much crime in the middle of town there, we have had some break-ins over the years but the majority of the crime occurring here in Miles are home invasions with stealing cars from properties,” she said.

“I am on the fence, I don't hear of any incidents, there haven't been major shop break-ins in some time and there’s not a lot of businesses in the main street apart from the pubs.

“I don't know if they will help because the only crimes I hear of are people being invaded by local kids. Our main crime is youth crime with kids roaming around the streets, I know for a while there was a spate of that, but that has backed off over the last year or so.”

Meanwhile The Q Hotel owner Dennis Conway who is located on the town’s main street said he was firmly for this investment.

“It's great, I’d love for them to put one outside our pub,” he said.

“It's a very friendly town but just next door at the Foodworks the other day someone knocked something off and those cameras are a great deterrent.”