28th April 2008
PACT Meeting Report: Harbourside LAC PACT: 28th April 2008
| Core Members / Other attendees | Organisation | Position | Contact Details | Attend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elle Vincent | Cremorne Chamber of Commerce | 9953 1725 ellevincent03@bigpond.com | No | |
| John Griffin | Cremorne Chamber of Commerce | 0412 970 353 Johngriffin41@hotmail.com | Yes | |
| Lauren Moore | Cremorne Chamber of Commerce | 9436 4440 0416 057 993 Lem@myoffice.net.au | No | |
| Denise Wilton | Mosman Council | Mayor | 9978 4000 mayor@mosman.nsw.gov.au | Yes |
| Viv May | Mosman Council | General Manager | 9978 4000 v.may@mosman.nsw.gov.au | Yes |
| Colin Croll | Neutral Bay Chamber of Commerce | 9953 0133 Colin.croll@croll.com.au | Yes | |
| Wendy Foster | North Sydney Chamber of Commerce | 94373503 admin@northsydneychamber.com.au | Yes | |
| Genia McCaffery | North Sydney Council | Mayor | 9936 8113 Mccgen@northsydney.nsw.gov.au | Yes |
| Penny Holloway | North Sydney Council | General Manager | 9936 8100 Holpen@northsydney.nsw.gov.au | Yes |
| Jillian Skinner | Member of North Shore | 9909 2594 Jillian.skinner@parliament.nsw.gov.au | Yes | |
| Lindsay Domingue | Cammeray Chamber of Commerce | 9959 3904 domingue@ozemail.com.au | No | |
| Sue Boyd | Cammeray Chamber of Commerce | 9969 6933 sueboyd@mosmanrealty.com.au | No |
| Summary of Commander's Presentation |
|---|
| Apologies received from Lauren Moore. Superintendent Belinda Nolan, Inspector Thorne and Tracy Martin were present from North Sydney Police. Matters arising from previous minutes: There were no matters arising from the previous meeting. Crime Summary, for the period of January to March 2008: *Assault: Increased from the previous quarter by 17. The hotspot is 5 incidents in a licensed premise in North Sydney. There was no real trend to these incidents, they all varied. The events in the hotspot occurred on Sunday and Fridays, most occurred in January. All were alcohol related. Mild hotspots exist in Crows Nest and Milsons Point. The Crows Nest incidents were at different locations, on different days and at varying times. The incidents in Milsons Point were all at one venue, predominately at concerts held at the venue. Supt Nolan advised North Sydney council that the command is intending on submitting a report requesting that Bradfield Park be an alcohol free zone. The reason for the request is the increasing number of people congregating in the park and drinking before attending other licensed premises, to presumably save money on the cost of drinks. Penny Holloway and Genia McCaffery both expressed concerns for New Years Eve, families visiting the location and that if the park was an alcohol free zone that the drinkers would congregate on the streets disturbing residents. Supt Nolan stated that they would discuss this in depth at a later date with the council, once the submission is completed. *Break and Enter: Offences decreased this quarter by 145.The major hotspot this quarter is 5 incidents on Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest. Business/commercial premises were targeted with predominately cash stolen. Secondary hotspots are at residential unit blocks in Mosman, Cremorne and Neutral Bay, the unit blocks would be targeted on the one day and offenders are suspected of using a lock pick gun to gain entry to 3 units (in each block). This trend occurred in late February to early March, but has currently ceased. Residential break and enter offences had property of jewellery, handbags, laptops, Ipods, keys and cash stolen. There have been a number of Break and Enter offences during the quarter that had keys stolen for a vehicle and subsequently the victim’s vehicle was stolen from the break and enters as well. It was explained to everyone that the recent Daily Telegraph article that set Mosman as the second highest suburb in the state for Break and Enters was incorrect and misleading. The information was based purely on AAMI insurance claims and the value of those claims compared with other persons insured with AAMI within the state. *Robbery: The number of robbery incidents has increased by 2 this quarter. There is no specific hotspot for robberies this quarter. The majority of the robberies are street robberies. The metropolitan region has experienced a number of armed robberies against businesses; Harbourside has only experienced a few of these robberies. All of these robberies are being investigated by a specialist robbery unit. Supt Nolan advised that robbery in the last month has increased for this area. Insp Thorne stated that these offences have included the snatching of handbags from female victims and the use of stolen high performance vehicles in robberies upon businesses, also that this is a Sydney wide problem. *Stealing: The number of incidents has decreased this quarter by 33. The hotspot for this quarter is in North Sydney, it is predominately retail stealing offences in the CBD. In the majority of these incidents an offender has been charged for the offence. Steal from motor vehicle offences are still present in car parks in North Sydney, with GPS and laptops being stolen. *Stolen Vehicles: Remained steady this quarter. There were 6 hotspots for this quarter, these all comprised of 2 incidents very close to each other. They all varied by date, time, vehicle make etc The only trend this quarter is the use of keys taken in Break and Enter offences utilised to then steal the victim’s vehicle, between Harbourside, Leichhardt, Bankstown, Mt Druitt and Blacktown police most of these offenders have been apprehended and charged for these offences. *Malicious Damages: Decreased by 88 from last quarter to the current quarter. There were two hotspots this quarter. Waverton with predominately graffiti on State Railway facilities. The second hotspot is graffiti in Milsons Point, offenders were charged in most instances with the assistance of private security guards and residents contacting police at the time of offence occurring. The majority of all malicious damage offences involve the vandalism of vehicles parked on the street. *Pro-activity: Pro-activity continues to increase. Move on directions, Business Inspections and the new category of School Inspection has increased the most. Harbourside Local Area Command is currently first in the state for the number of Business Inspections conducted and this has impacted on reducing robberies and other property offences in the area. Supt Nolan advised that there is specified legislation for police to follow when utilising proactive powers such as person searches and move on’s but the use of these powers can impact on crime positively and so officers are encouraged to utilise these powers. |
| Community Concerns & Feedback - Issues Raised | Decisions Taken / LAC Response |
|---|---|
| Robbery: Do we still have car-jacking here? Colin Croll | *Tracy Martin advised that this type of robbery has not occurred in this command for a long time. |
| Stealing: Do you know of a device that offenders use to identify laptops in the boots of cars by scanning for the laptop battery? Are they being used here? John Griffin | *Tracy Martin and Insp Thorne stated that they had not heard of such a device. The vehicles that used to be targeted for laptops in Crows Nest (which the offender would steal from the boot) were the subject of surveillance by offenders. The offenders watched victims to see where the victim hid their property before leaving the car. |
| Stealing: What is the difference between a robbery and a stealing? Colin Croll | *Supt Nolan advised that a robbery is the use or threat of violence to gain something from the victim. Whilst a stealing does not use violence, it generally does not involve the offender engaging the victim in anyway, just stealing their property. |
| Do people break into cars for the purpose of stealing sunglasses? Jillian Skinner | *Tracy Martin stated that generally offenders tend not to break in just for sunglasses, but they will take them if they have entered the car for other property. |
| Malicious Damage: Are the vehicles that are being damaged parked close to licensed premises? Genia McCaffery | *Tracy Martin stated that the vehicles are predominately parked on the street and that a lot of these vehicles are within walking distance of licensed premises in the command, but not all of these offences are linked to licensed premises. |
| North Sydney Council and Mosman council graffiti removal programs are continuing. | * Viv May stated that Mosman has now adopted the North Sydney program of removing graffiti from buildings for free to the victims if they have registered with the council. He stated that the cost of the program is similar to the reactive methods they previously utilised. Also that the only problem they now encounter is with utility services, in that they won’t let the council remove graffiti from their property. *John Griffin stated that you can lodge a request for them to remove graffiti and they will, but it will take weeks to be completed. *Genia McCaffery suggested that as the utilities is a NSW government service that Jillian Skinner could broach the subject with these services. *Jillian Skinner stated that she is willing to address parliament on this matter and if the councils provide her with information of the programs they are using so that she can make enquiries on their behalf. Both Mosman and North Sydney councils are to provide this information to Jillian Skinner. |
| Pro-activity: What are school inspections? Viv May | *Supt Nolan explained that this is a relatively new type of incident, and it involved officers patrolling schools after hours to check for trespasser’s, signs of vandalism or break and enters. Predominately these patrols are aimed to prevent these from all occurring in the first place. The patrols increase during school holidays. |
| McDonalds Cremorne: Jillian Skinner has received a number of complaints regarding McDonalds. Jillian Skinner | *Denise Wilton advised that residents have stated that approximately two weekends’ prior people were screaming and shouting in the early hours of Sunday morning. The residents stated that gangs of people from McDonalds are walking the streets at night disturbing the residents. She has advised the residents to call police for assistance at the time it is occurring. She has also published this advice to all Mosman residents. *Jillian Skinner expressed her belief that she thought they had fixed the problems after the last joint meeting with the company. *Insp Thorne stated that police do regular patrols and inspections of the business. *Genia McCaffery and Jillian Skinner jointly believe that another meeting may be required with the company to ensure they are continuing with their bligations especially the keeping of the peace and maintaining 2 security guards over the weekend. All agreed with this and a meeting will be organised. *Police records show that there has been no adverse contact with McDonalds with regards to noise, assault and antisocial behaviour since early January 2008. |
| Youths are loitering at Reservoir Park in Mosman and scaring residents in adjacent unit blocks. Viv May | * Viv May explained that residents living around the park off Brady St have expressed that they are scared of the youths that loiter in the park after 3pm (school). Viv has spoken to the principal of Mosman High school and she has assured him that her students will be stopped from going there. Council rangers have been patrolling the park and have found bongs and the teenagers to be highly abusive and intimidating. *Denise Wilton stated that she has visited the location and believes that the youths are very intimidating, also that the park has litter and drug paraphernalia strewn across it. She has again advised residents to call police when the youths are there. * Tracy Martin advised that Insp Monk had informed her of the situation the week prior and that our bike unit has been conducting regular patrols along with general duties officers who have been advised of the issue. The bike unit on their patrols have never encountered youths at the location; hence it is important that residents call police when the youths are there. |
| What is happening in North Sydney with regards to anti-social behaviour? Penny Holloway | * Insp Thorne stated that issues in North Sydney are being addressed and that numerous operations have been conducted. |
| Will the Community Impact Statements be utilised with regard to licensed premises that are already established or only new licenses? Genia McCaffery | * Supt Nolan stated that she was of the belief that it was only for new licenses but she would need to confirm this with the Licensing Sergeant. She added that other actions and challenges can be put to licensees with out this. Many new licensing laws are coming into affect on 1st July 2008 which will assist police in managing licensed premises within the command. Sgt Flakelar from our icensing unit is conversant with this new legislation. |
| When are the new precinct meetings going to commence? Penny Holloway | *Supt Nolan informed everyone that a new format for the PACT meetings will be coming into affect soon. These meetings will be more structured then the PACT meetings we currently have. She will advise every one of the developments as they come to hand. |
| What do you all think of the View project- CCTV register? Supt Nolan | *Most people were not aware of the project but everyone was keen and willing to promote this project in the community. Tracy Martin will attach information and internet links to the program when she distributes the PACT meeting minutes in the coming week. |
Meeting Closed: 12pm