CCTV used to record rubbish dumpers catch people having outdoor sex

A Sydney council put up night-vision cameras to stop rubbish dumping but they discovered a surprising number of amorous couples engaging in some X-rated fun. Now they have another problem. How do they stop it?

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EXCLUSIVE: The problem was illegal dumping. The solution exposed another blight: illegal humping.

Infrared cameras installed by Liverpool City Council to try stop rubbish dumping across the region have led to an unexpected criminal bycatch: amorous couples with a preference for sex outdoors.

Council officials have recorded a surprising number of trysts on new night-vision cameras positioned along lonely stretches of road in an industrial section of Moorebank in the city’s southwest.

The cameras were installed as part of a month-long trial to disrupt waste dumping, an ongoing and costly problem that can pose serious safety and health concerns, especially if the refuse contains asbestos.

A person pulls up in his car right in front of the infrared cameras. Picture: Supplied

They get out and dump a load of rubbish before fleeing. Picture: Supplied

But illegal dumping isn’t the only thing they’re catching on the cameras. Picture: Supplied

But for council staff, the sexual liaisons have given rise to a thorny question: how to police the problem, and what to do with the footage?

Liverpool Council’s CEO Kiersten Fishburn said a follow-up review of the recordings, including any “anti-social behaviour”, would likely be shared with police.

The council would not reveal how many liaisons had been recorded.

In addition to their startling clarity, the cameras are also equipped with a loud-hailer capable of broadcasting warning messages to trespassers. At least one suspected rendezvous-in-progress had to be prevented using the speaker system.

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“They were told they were on private property,” an official familiar with the problem said, adding rubbish dumpers had been stopped due to the cameras.

The only issue now, they said, was what to do with “all these images of people having relations”.

“It’s both sexes involved,” the official said of the trysts.

Ms Fishburn said the four cameras had been installed at no extra cost to the council, but she would not comment on widely-known allegations of sexual activity.

“The focus of the trial is to deter illegal dumpers,” she said.

Liverpool City Council is hoping to stop rubbish dumping across the region.

In its fight against illegal dumping, the Council’s use of infrared cameras is a novel step forward. Investigators have already issued $4,000 in fines as a result of the new cameras, Ms Fishburn said.

The reason for them is simple: rubbish dumpers know which areas in Liverpool are covered by ordinary cameras, which cannot see in the dark; in response, they are dumping refuse in remote, camera-less locations at night.

Sex in public falls under the lower-level offence of ‘obscene exposure’, a charge that was laid 463 times last year, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

It carries a maximum penalty of six months’ jail but usually results in a fine.