Big brother focus for Featherston

Featherston has the worst rate of graffiti and vandalism strikes of the three South Wairarapa towns and the unblinking eye of a security camera is being considered as a possible solution.

Hot spots get help with Surveillance

A sophisticated surveillance system is in the pipeline to catch taggers and vandals damaging public property in South Wairarapa.

In the meantime, to tackle specific problems in Featherston, security cameras have been installed near the public toilets on Fox Street which has become a hot spot for graffiti and vandalism.

Featherston has the worst rate of graffiti and vandalism strikes of the three South Wairarapa towns. The toilets have been damaged several times as has other public property.

In January, a wooden climbing tower with a slide in the town's playground was set on fire and, within days of being repaired, was vandalised again.

The Featherston cemetery was vandalised within the past two weeks with four headstones damaged, including a marble headstone, which was kicked over and broken.

The cameras cost the South Wairarapa District Council $4500.

"It seems to be acting as a deterrent at the moment," said amenities manager Helen McNaught at the council's monthly meeting on Wednesday.

Film footage was held indefinitely and there was potential for the Featherston Community Patrol to view it live, she said in a report tabled at the meeting,

"This is an interim measure to focus on the worst problem area and has the potential to be scaled up in future."

Councillor and graffiti working party chairwoman Julie Riddell said the cameras were much appreciated.

"Hopefully it will help make future arrests easier," Ms Riddell said.

Last year, council floated the idea for a CCTV system and asked council officers to investigate the project.

No funding for more cameras has been earmarked in the draft annual plan for 2014/15 but could be in future plans.

The Featherston Community Board has asked council to budget $50,000 for more cameras as part of the annual plan submissions.

Primary hot spots in Featherston, identified from data, are the toilets, playground and skatepark, and a new problem area has been identified near the library, information centre and museums.

In March alone, council recorded 33 graffiti and vandalism strikes in Featherston, 12 in the rural and coastal area, eight in Greytown, but none in Martinborough.

The cameras were not a magic bullet for solving crime and needed to be used together with other crime prevention measures, said Mrs McNaught.

She said costs for further development of the system should be known in time for the council's long-term plan process in 2015.

It's also possible for the council to have cameras monitored at Masterton police station.