By ALAN PERROTT
Surveillance cameras set up by Papatoetoe residents to stop prostitutes could be replaced by a Manukau City-paid closed-circuit television system in the next few months.
The Hunters Corner shopping village has become one of Manukau's major red-light districts, with the busiest pickup spot only 100m from residential homes.
The corner
of Hoteo Ave and Great South Rd has become a popular gathering spot for prostitutes and transsexuals as young as 12 and 13.
A city council committee meets on Thursday to consider a $17,000, six-month trial of a single camera at the intersection.
The present cameras, set up in May by residents tiring of the late-night noise and sex, are used to take licence-plate numbers of those picking up young sex workers. Locals also run late-night patrols.
The Papatoetoe Community Board has also provided extra street lighting, but resident John Lee said targeting the clients had been the most effective tactic.
"We'd see them arrive and then go over and tell them to get out of it or we'd call their wives in the morning."
The registration numbers show people have come from as far as Tauranga, Hamilton, Orewa and Wellington.
"We've seen a very young Maori girl with her face buried in a gluebag get out of the car owned by a local professional with three kids and one guy recognised his neighbour. How low can you go?" said Mr Lee.
"I spoke to a 16-year-old transvestite and told him he was wasting his life, but he said 'what else do I do, my old man doesn't care as long as I bring some money in'."
A consultant's report submitted to the city council suggests the sex workers might welcome the cameras because of the perceived protection they offer.
But Noel Burnside, a Papatoetoe councillor who chairs the committee which will decide on the camera trial, said the sex workers would move if the camera scared their clients away.
Mr Burnside and Mr Lee agreed the final answer lay in decriminalising the sex industry so the workers were kept off the streets and monitored in licensed premises.
"If nothing is done we run the risk of resident vigilante groups out there trying to tidy this up themselves," said Mr Burnside.
Cameras have already proved effective in other parts of Auckland.
The 16 camera sites in the Queen St-Downtown area have been responsible for 213 arrests and seven warnings in the first six months of this year.
Otahuhu businesses have operated and paid for 10 cameras for three years.
Business association member Graham Mullins said they had reduced petty crime and helped police identify several criminals.
"It's a shame we have to do this ourselves, what we need is more police on the streets."
He said the association was considering having the cameras monitored continuously by a security company.
Cameras also operate in Hamilton, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Wellington and Christchurch.
If the Hunters Corner trial is successful similar systems could be established in other Manukau City commercial centres.
By ALAN PERROTT
Surveillance cameras set up by Papatoetoe residents to stop prostitutes could be replaced by a Manukau City-paid closed-circuit television system in the next few months.
The Hunters Corner shopping village has become one of Manukau's major red-light districts, with the busiest pickup spot only 100m from residential homes.
The corner
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.