Car theft figures upset residents
A community crime watch leader says car theft figures from the RACQ are telling only part of the story
South West
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New car theft insurance figures from the RACQ have caused uproar at Forest Lake after the suburb was widely reported as having the worst result in Brisbane for home and car theft.
Forest Lake Crime and Community Watch co-ordinator Hamish Krammer said the figures resulted in outraged calls from residents on social media demanding more police action and a dedicated police station for the suburb.
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Mr Krammer backed calls for more police, but he said while the figures were high they failed to take into account that Forest Lake was the largest suburb in Brisbane with 28,000 residents, a population that would take in three or four other suburbs combined.
“When we looked at the QPS figures, Forest Lake was ranked ninth – it’s still a problem, but there is more to the story,” Mr Krammer said.
“Our suburb is being compared with much smaller suburbs.”
The RACQ figures for the past four years showed more than 100 insurance claims for the suburb.
RACQ spokesman Lucinda Ross said Forest Lake, Inala and Sunnybank Hills were the top three suburbs for car theft, with Forest Lake, Carindale and Kuraby the worst three for home theft since 2016.
“We’ve seen a steady rise in car theft claims over the past four years across Queensland, with December the busiest time of year for thieves,” Ms Ross said.
Mr Krammer said there had been “a lot of talk” about Forest Lake having its own police station, or 24 hour police service.
“It’s not operationally convenient for the police, with the major Inala station close by, but we do want more police on the ground in Forest Lake,” Mr Krammer said.
“What we’d like to see is either an increase to the Forest Lake Police Beat capacity or increased numbers of patrols dedicated to Forest Lake.
“At the moment we share with several suburbs.”
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