Cage creating brighter future

The Community Action Group Eltham (Cage) has been hugely successful in helping stamp out nuisance crimes

such as tagging and willful damage and help suppress other forms of crime such as burglaries, but what they are most proud of is the bridges they have build in restoring pride to the town's people, says chairman Glenn Hansen.

``There is just a more positive vibe. Being proud of our town seems to now be bigger than getting a kick out

of petty crimes.''

And, Cage invites you to buy in or go along for a ride.

``It is so neat, helping someone, saving them money and certainly saving them aggravation.''

With a current complement of 24, he says they need more volunteers and apart from having to be vetted by the

police and having a full driver's licence there are no other requirements.

Indeed, says the group's secretary, Llew Eynon, the group's strength is in its diversity, each bringing his or

her knowledge, skills and community network to the table.

He says though the focus is on preventing crime, the group is not a mere extension of the police, but rather the

eyes and ears of the community.

``We are not killjoys. We do not want to prevent people from walking the streets at night, but make it safe for them to do so,'' says Glenn.

Cage was set up in 2006 following violent attacks on locals in which one person was seriously injured. The

perception of Eltham at one point was that of a `troubled town', but that negative image is slowly disappearing, says Glen.

``A lot of outside influences get in and hit Eltham to get back at some local group. But, we basically discourage them with our presence.''

The plus side is that with less vandalism money can be spend on improvements or new projects.

``Instead of the council spending money fixing things, we now get new cool stuff, like the new bus stop,'' says Glen.

Due to a grant approved by the Eltham Community Board, the group now has enough funds to keep the

patrol vehicle going with only a few fundraising projects, but they invite local residents and businesses wanting to support them financially, to contact them.

Businesses can also still buy into the camera project, which Glen says is a huge success, by funding the capital

outlay of a camera.

Should you want to join, or make a donation, contact Glenn at (06) 764 8186 or Llew at (06) 764 7210.