Major security boost to make Gold Coast parks safer from crime

‘I WOULD never walk anywhere at night alone’. There’s new hope for Gold Coast women fearing for their safety while walking in parks at night following a major boost to stop crime and increase security.

Dark public areas like Carey Park at Southport have raised safety concerns. Picture: Jerad Williams

A MAJOR security boost in on the way for parks across the city and other public places with 164 security cameras to be installed in hot spots in a bid to make them safer at night.

Mayor Tom Tate announced the beefed-up security after the launch of a Sun campaign to make parks safer for women and others at night.

The issue has since sparked strong comment from local women who have voiced their fears about walking alone at night.

Cr Tate said the State Government had gifted the city 234 security cameras used during the Commonwealth Games and 164 of them would be deployed to hot spots.

“We are liaising with police about the best locations for the remaining cameras,” he said.

“I am keen to ensure that priority is given to any parks, cycling tracks or walkways which need better surveillance. We will take advice from police as these cameras greatly support the work they do 24 hours a day.’’

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Cr Tate said members of the Mayoral Safer Suburbs Forum would also be involved in consultation about where to install the cameras.

“Seventy cameras will remain in their current locations — mostly at our key sporting venues such as Carrara, Coomera and near Metricon and C-Bus stadiums,” he said.

The extra cameras meant the city’s CCTV network had ‘virtually doubled overnight’ to 530 devices.

The Mayor said these had the latest, high-definition, high-performance lenses and could operate in poor light.

Mayor Tom Tate with one of the hi-tech security cameras to be installed in local parks and walkways.

“We have real-time viewing and controls in the city’s Safety Camera Network Control Room, the new Joint Emergency Services co-ordination Centre, our Local Disaster co-ordination Centre and the Traffic co-ordination Centre,” he said.

He pointed out the city-funded, fibre optic network had enhanced the capacity of the network to take on more cameras now and in the future.

Minister for the Commonwealth Games, Kate Jones, was confident the additional CCTV cameras would help locals and visitors stay safe on the Gold Coast.

Meanwhile, the Sun’s campaign for better lighting and more cameras in local parks have touched a nerve with local women, who quickly voiced their fears.

Rebecca and Gina Masterton are concerned about women’s safety in parks.

Gina Masterton, a lawyer, Master of Law and PhD candidate at Griffith University, said she and her sister, Rebecca, had spoken often about how they used to feel safe at night in public places on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane.

“We lived in Los Angeles for 13 years and had no problems with safety but when we returned home in 2014, we felt the effects of population growth, the growing number of people with mental health issues and homelessness,” she said.

“As a result, we’re much less inclined to walk at night anywhere. We have even seen young women walking home from uni late at night alone and given them a lift for their own safety.

“I would never walk anywhere at night alone now,” she said.

Janine Goddaer, of Paradise Point, said she ‘wouldn’t dare walk in the park at Paradise Point at night’ and Stella Holland, of Coombabah, said she wouldn’t walk alone at night in any park on the Gold Coast.

Dietitian Kate Jewell, formerly of Hollywell, said she would only walk in a park at night with another person and Jan Stirk Rennie, of Biggera Waters, agreed.

“I definitely wouldn’t alone at night in a park, especially if it was late. If it was well lit, not too late and with a man, maybe,” Mrs Rennie said.

A local woman, who asked not be named, said she definitely wouldn’t walk alone in the Runaway Bay park, alongside Limetree Parade, at night or day.

“My granddaughter and l were there during the day, a while ago, and we were being followed by a strange-looking man,” she said. “I called my husband to collect us in his car and when he arrived, the man moved off.

“It’s becoming increasingly dangerous (in parks),” she warned.

Kim Den Hertog, of Worongary and the founder of the Flawless Ministry for broken women, said she would not walk anywhere on the Gold Coast on her own at night.

“I’ve even found myself thinking, ‘Women shouldn’t be walking in there alone.’

“When did that get programmed into my mind — that we as women are restricted to certain areas because of a fear of rape?

“I shocked myself that that was my thought process and I wasn’t even aware of it,” she said.

Rosemary O’Malley, chief executive of the Gold Coast Domestic Violence Prevention Unit, said safety in parks was ‘a major issue’ for women and Deputy Mayor Donna Gates has also thrown her weight behind all initiatives to make parks safer for women.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon is concerned about the safety of women at railway station car parks in the north and has presented petitions to Parliament, while Division 3 councillor Cameron Caldwell has introduced the first CCTV at Paradise Point, with a mobile CCTV on the way for potential hot spots.