Rural Whanganui community bands together to install another security camera

It will be the seventh camera installed in the western rural area of the Whanganui District. Photo / NZME

Another security camera will be installed in rural Whanganui to combat vandalism, burnouts and thefts.

It is going up at the junction of Handley, Maxwell Station and Ototoka Beach roads, with the community raising $5000 and the Whanganui Rural Community Board providing a $1000 grant.

Pakaraka/Nukumaru Neighbourhood Support Group co-ordinator Kate Lynch said it would be the seventh camera installed in the western area of the district in the past few years.

“Unfortunately, there has been a growing number of people doing burnouts but, more so, going on to farms and interfering with tractors and other personal belongings,” she said.

“We were getting a lot of stock and motorbike thefts.

“It’s more than a nuisance, it’s quite a significant issue.”

Lynch said the community decided to be proactive rather than reactive when dealing with the issues and had developed a “really good relationship” with rural police constables.

“What we saw immediately with the cameras was a decrease in crime in the area,” she said.

“We can’t solve the underlying issues but we have to protect our own patch. You can’t wait for someone else to do it for you.”

Speaking to the Chronicle in 2023, Whanganui police rural liaison officer Senior Constable Keith Butters said police covered a huge rural area “and we can’t always be there”.

“Our eyes are the cameras and all these communities have given police access to them, even though they own them and they pay for them,” he said.

“The newer ones going in also have colour view at night. That’s another tool for us to use.”

Lynch said the cameras were well monitored and police had apprehended people based on footage.

One incident involved stock theft.

“Some people stole lambs, put them in the back of a car and parked under a camera,” she said.

“Obviously, they didn’t realise it was there and slaughtered the lambs.

“It was all caught on film and they ended up in court.”

The newest camera will be the seventh in the western part of the Whanganui district. Photo / NZME

She said it was not just crime prevention where the cameras were useful.

They helped identify an elderly man reported missing from Feilding.

“A farmer had called the police one night and asked for a rego to be checked because a car was moving suspiciously around his driveway,” she said.

“The vehicle was of no interest to police but they called back a while later for him to double-check the plate.

“Turns out it was the missing gentleman. He was well lost.”

At its meeting last week, the rural community board unanimously voted for the $1000 grant.

Board chairman David Wells told the Chronicle the cameras were “a significant deterrent”.

“It means there is an extra layer of preparation required for these baddies if they are going to make a nuisance of themselves,” he said.

“The police also have more information to follow up on.”

Maintenance of rural cameras in the district was undertaken by Graham Palamountain of Town and Country TV and Surveillance Solutions, Wells said.

The board paid for the contract through its Community Grant Fund.

“These cameras have been funded by the various communities so paying for maintenance can be a bit of an issue - you have to go and get small amounts of money from lots of different people,” he said.

“It keeps the cost low and he only has to send out one bill.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.