The Cowra Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) held its most recent meeting on July 15 with a home security workshop.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Attendees heard from Crime Prevention Officer for Chifley Police District, Senior Constable Sue Rose, who spoke about crime prevention strategies that home owners can undertake to protect their property.
These strategies included:
- Displaying a street number at the front of the house to assist emergency services to locate your home
- Ensuring all perimeter fences are in good order and that gates are kept closed and locked to restrict unauthorised access to your property
- Trimming trees and shrubs from around doors and windows so as not to provide concealment to intruders and increase visibility to and from the street
- Installing quality security lights around the perimeter of your home to provide more effective illumination at night
- All perimeter doors to your home should be of solid construction and fitted with quality dead lock sets to restrict unauthorised access
- All perimeter windows should be secured with key operated locks to restrict unauthorised access
- Engraving your driver's licence number prefixed by the initials "NSW" on all items of value again to assist in easy identification
Senior Constable Rose reinforced the need for the community to focus on reporting anything and everything which doesn't seem right, including suspicious activity to police.
The best numbers for people to access are 000 (Triple Zero) if a crime is in progress or 131 444 for the Police Assistance Line.
Crimestoppers can be called on 1800 333 000 if residents have any information to help solve crimes.
Cowra NHW coordinator, Nikki Kiss, said it was important the community made their homes the safe havens they should be.
"Home invasions are traumatic, that sense of privacy and safety is shattered and when decent, local citizens are targeted, our whole community feels anger and frustration," she said.
"It is simply wrong in every sense of the word.
"The sad reality is that there will always be those few individuals who, for whatever reason, have no intention of abiding by the law.
"Most will look for easy opportunities for their crime - the open window, the unlocked door. Let's work together to make our homes the safe havens they should be."
Officer in charge of Cowra, Inspector Adam Beard, said one of the duties of the Crime Prevention Officer was to undertake safety and security audits for individuals, community groups and local organisations to prevent crime from occurring and to reduce the risk of repeat victimisation.
While Inspector Beard said it was an enormous undertaking for one CPO in the entire district, he gave the assurance that any locals who request the service, especially our most vulnerable, that local police would make sure they received assistance.
The next Neighbourhood Watch meeting will be a day event running from 9am to 12pm on Saturday, September 18.
Supported by Cowra Lions Club and Cowra Rotary Club, the Neighbourhood Watch volunteers will be exchanging ordinary number plate screws with anti-theft number plate screws.
Number plate theft is a real concern because of the flow-on criminal activity it conceals such as fuel theft, speeding and other criminal activities.
The event will be held in the car park near the Low Level Bridge.
Sausage sandwiches will also be on sale with donations towards future Neighbourhood Watch activities greatly appreciated.
Matthew Chown
Some of my favourite memories growing up are of picking up a newspaper and learning about the world. This inspired me to become a journalist and tell local stories with a passion. Email: matthew.chown@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Some of my favourite memories growing up are of picking up a newspaper and learning about the world. This inspired me to become a journalist and tell local stories with a passion. Email: matthew.chown@austcommunitymedia.com.au
