Crime Qld Terrified residents paying up to $360 a day for private security to patrol streets

Petrified Queenslanders are pooling their money with their neighbours to pay up to $360 a day for private security to patrol their streets, while others are forced to sit up all night peering out the window so they can feel safe at night.

• Editor’s view: Private security no answer

Queenslanders are pooling their money with their neighbours to pay up to $360 a day for private security to patrol their streets for would-be criminals so they can feel safe at night.

Neighbourhoods across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Townsville and Ayr have active patrols under way, while one Cairns local is rallying her community to hire a guard.

Break-ins and car thefts have increased across the local government areas of Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Cairns, fresh Queensland Police Service crime map data reveals.

In Brisbane 12,712 unlawful entries were recorded from June 1, 2022 to June 1, 2023, up from 9906 in the same period the year before.

In Cairns there were 4590 unlawful entries in the past year and 1211 unlawful use of motor vehicles, while the Gold Coast recorded 4363 and 2184 respectively.

Brisbane security firm The 24/7 Group began guarding neighbourhoods more than 18 months ago and has since expanded rapidly into streets around Hamilton and Ascot, with regular inquiries in suburbs such as Hawthorn, Bulimba and Teneriffe.

Security guard Wayne Heneker and his dog 'Boss', who has been hired by Gold Coast residents to patrol their suburbs. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“There’s a lot of home invasions and these people are petrified and they are sitting up all night peering out the window because people are stealing their cars,” director Randall Hughes said.

“Since we’ve been doing the streets we do, there’s been zero incidents in those streets.”

Mr Hughes said while it does vary depending on the size of the street, on average, streets are spending $360 a night for a guard on an eight-hour shift, seven days a week.

He said most streets get 20 to 30 neighbours to pool together to make it a more cost-effective strategy.

“It is probably about $150 a week per household. That is a lot of money, but it’s also not a nice feeling when someone’s hovering over you with a machete – and that’s what people in these streets have experienced,” he said.

Damien O'Keeffe, Security Supervisor from 24/7 Secure. Picture: Richard Walker

Mr Hughes said a lot more people would like to be taking advantage of his service.

“We see stolen cars all the time, cars with dodgy number plates. They just keep going past us when they see a guard,” he said.

Another company that specialises in private patrols and has also had an increase in their service is Gold Coast Patrol Dogs K9.

Owner Wayne Heneker said he serviced suburbs in Benowa Waters, Sorrento, Runaway Bay and Helensvale.

He said he has taken a lot of inquiries because people have seen suspicious vehicles, and strangers on their streets.

“Most people are worried, it has been getting worse,” Mr Heneker said.

“People are dead-bolting themselves in their rooms.”

Mr Heneker said he aimed to deter criminals.

“I have a very high level of integrity and I have a high level of integrity for my business and going out and being a visual deterrent for these criminals,” he said.

“There’s a whole range of things that this security program is trying to stop. It’s about not letting them get into the community and causing grief and not letting them get into someone’s home.”

Stephen Lee pictured at his home where he has beefed up security cameras after an attempted robbery occurred in his street. Picture David Clark

Residents in North Queensland are also choosing private patrols. SRW Security Services owner Scott Woelin services Ayr, Townsville, Bowen, Charters Towers and Mt Isa.

“The amount of calls for service lately by private residents due to the crime rate is crazy, often one or two per night,” he said. “In Ayr, for example, we have seen numerous people walking the streets and also stolen cars driving through on a regular basis. A whole street engaged us to do four drive-bys per night. The whole street worked together to organise it, but ultimately people shouldn’t need to pay money or engage these services to feel safe in their own homes.”

Cairns woman Lisa Cantwell said she is scared inside her own home.

“I have gone from loving Cairns, to hating it … I think the crime in this town is the biggest-kept secret in Australia,” she said. “The fact as community members we are trying to feel safe in our homes by looking what we can do to get private security to protect us. That in itself is a reason to leave.”

A group of bumbling thieves were sent running after Stephen Lee spotted them attempting to break into his neighbours car in Bridgeman Downs earlier this year. Source: Supplied.

Ms Cantwell said while she has not booked a security service yet, she has had many discussions with her neighbours in Cairns to see what their options are.

“We live in a very nice street about 2km away from the Esplanade, it’s a beautiful street,” she said. “Every single home in our street has been broken into in the last 12 months. We were, ourselves, in January, then two doors down got broken into a couple of days later. I am scared at home.”

Minister for Police and Corrective Services Mark Ryan said community safety was paramount.

“That’s why the government has funded extreme high-visibility police patrols which are being conducted in communities right across Queensland,” Mr Ryan said.

“People in the community are seeing more police, more often, out on the streets, in shopping centres and other high-traffic areas. Police advise that this greatly enhanced police visibility in the community has met with an overwhelmingly positive response.”

Speaking on the Gold Coast on Saturday, Opposition leader David Crisafulli said the fact Queenslanders were having to hire private security showed they were desperate and believed current laws were weak and ineffective.

He said he had spent the morning doorknocking homes in Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon’s electorate of Gaven and everyone was talking about the youth crime crisis.

“Resident after resident have told us they want action on youth crime. They want action and they want consequences for bad behaviour,” he said.

“To hear today that residents are having to reach into their own pocket in the middle of a cost of living crisis to hire private security guards shows how desperate they are and how much people believe the laws are so weak they are ineffective in keeping them safe in their homes. It’s got to change.

“When did we reach the point where people have to be the de facto law and order because of a lack of police and weakened down laws that no longer keep people safe?

“Queenslanders want action and they are demanding it.”

Mr Crsiafulli said if the LNP won next year’s election, it would overhaul youth justice laws