Watsons Marine, Pacific Gympie join in to help with crime wave

Regional business owners are pleading for greater police presence to curb an ongoing crime crisis, with some fearing things could “spiral out of control”.

Calls for a greater police presence in Gympie are growing with victimised business owners saying they fear vigilantism could make a comeback and shops will shut if things do not change.

Watsons Marine Centre owners said they had lost about $100,000 in stock in the past two years as a result of crimes, including the theft of a boat and trailer and even a fire extinguisher.

Thieves attempting to steal an outboard motor in the most recent break-in were disrupted by a neighbour who chased them off in his car before calling police.

They come as the region’s LNP MP Tony Perrett raised concerns about the impact of crime on the region’s businesses and called for greater police resources in state parliament last Thursday.

Watsons Marine owner Christine Jamieson said she spent three quarters of one day contacting other affected businesses, but by the end of the say she had still not reached the bottom of her list.

She said there needed to be a greater police presence as support had felt “non-existent”.

“I tried to go (to the police station) Saturday morning and it was closed,” she said, adding it also closed by 4pm on weekdays.

Watsons Marine Centre owners have called for the Gympie police station to be open to the public 24-seven, saying the present practice of shutting at 4pm on weekdays is putting more of the onus on reporting and dealing with crime on business owners.

“We are being responsible for doing other people’s jobs now,” Mrs Jamieson said.

“Years ago you would ring the police station, police would come down … they’d write down the situation, take a statement, go back and write it up.

“That doesn’t happen anymore.

“You have to upload your statement on PoliceLink … you then have to supply evidence, and upload that evidence yourself … but then nothing comes out of it.”

She worried crime rates may be under-represented with some businesses not reporting crimes.

Watsons Marine Centre owners Christine Jamieson, Glenn Watson and Denise Watson are calling for more police resources and a greater officer presence in the Gympie region as their business continues being targeted by criminals.

Co-owner Glenn Watson said the region had so far avoided the crime problems plaguing other areas, but “things could easily spiral out of control”.

“In relative terms this is still quite a safe and low crime area, but if it keeps going you’re going to end up like Rocky and Townsville where vigilante action will occur,” Mr Watson said.

Pacific Gympie general manager Joel Reeman’s car dealership had been targeted too with “number plates being stolen on a more frequent basis in the past six months”.

Pacific Gympie manager Joel Reeman said crime in the past 12 months at his business was at its worst rate in 15 years.

He said this past year his business had been experiencing “the highest level of crime activity” in its 15 year history.

He said Gympie’s police officers were “doing what they can” but was unsure if there were enough resources to have the presence needed.

Police said in a statement Wednesday they regularly review issues including “service demand, available resources, officer safety, emerging crime trends and population growth to ensure optimum service delivery”.

“The service is continuing to adopt an agile and borderless policing approach enriched with technology where officers are no longer restricted to a static location,” they said.

“This means regardless of where a frontline officer may be based, they will spend the majority of their shift out in the community, responding to calls for service and patrolling the area.”

They said urgent and life-threatening matters “will always be treated as a priority” and Policelink was the “primary contact point across the state to report non-urgent police matters”.

Originally published as Watsons Marine, Pacific Gympie join in to help with crime wave