Benowa Waters residents want extra security to combat crime

Fed-up residents in a Gold Coast suburb are raising money to boost signs, add private CCTV and implement security patrols to combat crime.

FED-up residents in a Gold Coast suburb are raising money to boost signs, add private CCTV and implement security patrols to combat crime.

The residents, based in Benowa Waters, also want to establish an SMS Alert Broadcast.

It would send out messages to the neighbourhood during distress – and even have volunteers patrolling.

It comes as resident Merci Sonata was the victim of crime for the second time in a month overnight, when she was woken by two figures trespassing on her property.

Merci Sonata has been broken into twice in the past month. Picture Glenn Hampson

Ms Sonata, who invested in security measures, watched as two people, believed to be teens, snooped the family car.

It comes weeks after she was woken by thieves trying to get through their house window.

“We heard someone on the side (of the house) just run so fast into a car, and the car screeched up and down the street,” Ms Sonota said.

“It was very scary.

“We are a target. People are getting more brazen and I think they’re looking for anything,” she said.

A proposal with a raft of possible security measures was put together by the residents, following the creation of a community Facebook page.

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Donna Lansdown, who is the driving force behind the proposal, said they planned to create a “formal committee” and would hopefully raise more than $15,000 to deliver the safety measures.

She said she had sought advice from several Neighbourhood Watch groups and was hopeful the added security would act as a deterrent.

“A lot of them (offenders) are looking for high valued luxury cars – which has been a lot of the target here – if they see that there is CCTV and patrol, it’s just a deterrent. We’re no longer a soft target,” she said.

“We’re lucky we’ve got one road coming in and we can quite cost effectively have CCTV.”

Queensland Police Service data shows there has been eight break-ins reported from March 20 to April 19. Two cars were also reported in that time.

Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler addressing the media amid COVID-19. Picture: Jerad Williams

Gold Coast Police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said: “We acknowledge that any level of offending is unacceptable and where we identify hot spots, where we identify clusters of offences, we deploy appropriate resources at those issues. We continue to review crime daily across the district.”

Gold Coast City Council Division 8 councillor Bob La Castra, who was contacted by Ms Lansdown about the proposal, backed the measures.

He said he intended to set up a neighbourhood watch group in the suburb when the council returned.