Council burnout camera backflip!

By bobreid, 10 January, 2025
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On Wednesday 8th January I was flabbergasted to receive an email from MidCoast Council stating that it was no longer going to install live CCTV video surveillance cameras at the Gooreengi Rd/Somerset Avenue intersection, which were going to be installed as a deterrent and to record burnouts and be used in legal action against burnout hoons.

The email stated “I must advise that Council will not proceed with the installation of the CCTV cameras at Gooreengi Road as previously indicated unless the costs are fully funded from sources external to Council.”

So, in the end, it all boils down to money, Council is not willing to spend any money to stop the burnouts.

A copy of this email and a copy of an accompanying letter that Mayor Claire Pontin wrote to the NSW Police Minister can be read and downloaded from the bottom of this article.

The undertaking to install the camera was made just before Christmas and it was to be installed in early January. We have had to put up with these burnouts and the associated safety risks for over 18 months, and have been asking Council and the Police to take action to stop them since August 2023. 

The CCTV camera was the quickest and cheapest option – it would only cost $8,000, which is significantly less expensive than re-engineering the intersection so it was not suitable for burnouts.

So why has the Council done a backflip?

  1. According to the email, “The CCTV proposal has been reviewed by Council’s Executive and was considered not to be in accordance with the policy position of the elected Council” and “Whilst our policy is broadly supportive of CCTV for safety and crime prevention benefits, our policy focus is on the protection of community infrastructure, facilities and Council staff”.

    So Council is happy to install CCTV for “the protection of community infrastructure, facilities and Council staff”, but it is not prepared to install CCTV for the safety and protection of its residents, and to prevent damage to the intersection that is part of its community infrastructure.

    Yet this attitude is contrary to the Surveillance Camera Policy which includes a policy objective of “appropriate crime prevention for staff and community”, and a purpose to “promote a safer and more liveable environment”. 
     
  2. The email also states “Council’s clear preference for ownership and use of CCTV for crime prevention is only where Council is responsible for criminal law enforcement (for example illegal rubbish dumping). Council’s General Manager, has consistently declined requests from the Manning Great Lakes Command for cameras to be installed at similar crime hotspots on this basis. Therefore Proceeding with what was proposed for Gooreengi Road would be inconsistent with this previous approach.”

    This is a surprising attitude to public safety – Council is not willing to install CCTV at crime hotspots, even when requested by NSW Police, to help prevent crime! If local government is not prepared to work with State Government to improve public safety, what hope have we got as a society, and what is the role of local government? 
     

There are two points in the Mayor’s letter to the Police Minister that warrant comment:

a. The letter stated “it has been reported to me that recently a local resident was followed to their home in a threatening manner by one of the participants in this activity”.

This elevates the matter to much more serious level – as well as putting up with the burnouts, residents are now feeling personally threatened by burnout participants and being followed to their home. This abhorrent behaviour, together with the safety issues arising from the burnouts, should be more than enough for Council to be prepared to take strong action to stop the burnouts. But it is not! Council is unwilling to spend $8,000 to install a CCTV deterrent.

b. The letter also stated “I understand that Council staff have been discussing this issue with Officers from Raymond Terrace Police Station and have been advised that this particular location makes effective enforcement difficult for the Police.” 
Considering this difficulty, one would expect that Council would assist the Police and willingly install a CCTV system to help the Police enforce the law. Because of the location of the intersection, and the fact that it is responsible for the road, Council has a much greater role for traffic management than the Police do.

So what is Council proposing to do now? – at the moment NOTHING!

Council is unwilling to spend $8,000 to install CCTV, crying poor, yet it has a $31m unrestricted cash buffer, generates a significant annual surplus, and this year increased our rates by 5.2%. 

The stupid thing about this whole matter is that if Council had taken action 18 months ago when we first asked for help, it wouldn’t have had to clean up the intersection after burnouts, it wouldn’t need to repair the damaged pavement and redo the line marking, a young woman and girl would not have received serious injuries from a burnout gone wrong, a young man would have not ended up on criminal charges, and residents would not be feeling unsafe, intimidated and threatened by burnout participants. In the end, all of this will cost significantly more than it would have to fix the problem in the first place.

Imagine the cost to MidCoast rate payers in terms of the wages and salary hours spent by senior members of Council for 18 months doing everything in their power to delay action and defer responsibility. I expect the true cost of the would dwarf the $8,000 they're now balking at. 

In the email Council also said “our focus is now on lower cost actions”, including:

  • “Temporary road closure at one end of Gooreengi Rd to reduce potential access/escape routes for offenders
  • Disconnection of the street lighting at the intersection to reduce the benefit for spectators to observe the behaviour
  • Application of raised pavement markers on the centrelines so the surface isn’t as smooth.”

All of these actions would cost significantly more than CCTV, and could have serious unintended safety consequences. Such actions need to be discussed with the North Arm Cove, Carrington and Tahlee communities before anything is done. Imagine the consequences of closing one end of Gooreengi Road.

On the 11th November 2024 in an article on our website I asked this rhetorical question: The burnout blackhole – Council leadership, negligence or simply doesn’t care? You be the judge!

The answer to this question is now quite clear! 

I wonder what the role of elected Councillors is in this fiasco. According to the Council email this issue has been discussed with them. Do they support the backflip on installing the CCTV? Do they support the Council not assisting NSW Police to enforce the law by refusing to install CCTV at crime hotspots within the MidCoast area? Are they happy that Council has done nothing for 18 months to prevent the burnouts? Are they happy that Council has no plans to stop the burnouts? It would be interesting to hear their views on this.

Council should be pulling out all stops to stop the burnouts from happening, rather than sitting on its hands and trying to pass the buck to the State Government!

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