Federal opposition justice spokesperson Michael Keenan and Federal Member for Macquarie Louise Markus listen at the crime prevention roundtable in Springwood last week.
Combating crime was the hot topic when Federal opposition justice spokesperson Michael Keenan visited Springwood last Thursday.
Mr Keenan hosted a crime prevention roundtable at Springwood library with Federal Member for Macquarie Louise Markus and local police, business, council and State Rail representatives.
Issues raised during the forum included the Midnight Basketball project at Katoomba, the use of CCTV networks and new technologies that allow the tracking of graffiti tags.
Mr Keenan said it was important for communities to understand what can be done at a local level to tackle crime and that residents could work together.
“These forums are all about making communities safer which will in turn make our nation stronger. I believe that prevention is the best way forward and that extra funds need to be committed to projects which focus on this,” he said.
“As a matter of principle, I believe that money collected from criminals and their criminal activities should be used to fight crime. The Coalition’s National Community Crime Prevention Program ensures this will happen again with money used under Proceeds of Crime legislation to be committed to crime prevention projects.”
Mrs Markus said the event was a clear indicator that local residents are fed up with petty crime in the area and were looking for new ways of combating these issues.
“I was pleased to consult with members of our community and see their willingness to work together towards solutions for some of these issues,” she said.
“I have already begun to fight for funding to get CCTV networks in key areas across the Blue Mountains. Should the Coalition get into Government at the next election our National Community Crime Prevention Program will make this funding a possibility.”
Blue Mountains Mayor Daniel Myles, State MP Roza Sage, Mark Jarvis of the Katoomba Chamber of Commerce and Community, and Darryl Jobson of Blue Mountains Police Local Area Command were among the other representatives to attend the forum.