Glenhaven break-ins: community group calls for CCTV cameras, security patrols to reduce crime rate
Residents of an affluent suburb have started raising money to help fund extreme security measures. It comes after a spike in crime in which numerous homes have been targeted.
Hills Shire
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Homes are being broken into and cars stolen “almost every night” in an affluent neighbourhood in Sydney’s northwest.
It has sparked a campaign for residents to take extreme action to protect their community.
Glenhaven residents in The Hills have been rocked by a series of break ins, with community group, Friends of Glenhaven, now fundraising for 24-hour surveillance cameras to be installed across the entire suburb in an effort to curb crime.
This isn’t the only suburb in The Hills forced to result to proactive measures to protect homes, with Bella Vista residents employing full time security guards to monitor streets overnight in an effort to reduce crime.
This week, the community group called for residents to fund the installation of CCTV cameras across the entire suburb with 150 residents offering to contribute to the fund, following yet another home broken into in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Friends of Glenhaven representative Mitchell Blue said the rising crime rate was a big issue for neighbours.
“Crime has increased in the area and as a result the association continually attempt to raise awareness within the community by advising residents of reported crime and encouraging residents to report anything suspicious that they may see,” Mr Blue told the Hills Shire Times.
“We would really like to see a solution to this ever increasing problem.”
Glenhaven resident and association member, Michael Albriecht, said affluent communities across The Hills, like Glenhaven, were “easy targets”.
“We are getting hit almost every night,” he said. “We need to do something to protect our homes and cars.”
Security companies have advised the CCTV would cost a one-off fee of $15,000 to set up, however, security patrols are an ongoing cost.
“We would need to hold a community forum to discuss the possibility of security patrolling our streets,” Mr Albriecht said. “But it is effective in Bella Vista where it has been in place for several years.”
The call for a solution to rising crime in Glenhaven comes just days after the Wigzell family had their Land Cruiser stolen from their driveway in the middle of the night before it was found flipped over and stripped of its contents on Cattai Ridge Rd, Glenorie the following day.
Alyssa Wigzell said her brother’s beloved Cruiser, which had been used for camping in The Simpson Desert and Snowy Mountains was stolen from their home on January 10.
“This isn’t just a car to our family, these people stole a lifestyle,” she said.
“This isn’t the first car that has been stolen in the past few weeks, our neighbour’s Honda CR-V was also stolen as well as an Audi a few days earlier.”
A Hills Police Area Command spokesman said three cars were stolen while one was broken into, while a business and two homes have also been broken into since January 1.
Castle Hill-based security company, Highland Security has offered to patrol Glenhaven for one week for free to trial different options available to residents.