Whanganui community group installing $3000 security camera on Wikitoria Rd

The Whanganui Rural Community Board has provided $1000 for the project.

A new community-operated security camera on the outskirts of Whanganui could give Police a better chance to identify potential offenders.

Speaking to the Whanganui Rural Community Board, Putiki Community Camera group spokesman Keith Butters said a camera was installed on Wikitoria Rd around six years ago, but technology was changing.

“This new camera will have colour night vision and number plate reading technology,” he said.

“Our aim is to link it directly to police and the [Whanganui District] council, so they can access it through a programme called VGrid.

“We get a lot of requests from police about cars being stolen and dumped out there, and we are also getting council requests about rubbish being dumped at the beach.”

His report to the board said Wikitoria Rd was the only way in and out for the Whanganui Airport, South Beach, the Whanganui dog pound, Perth Concrete, and “all local dwellings”.

The board voted unanimously to approve $1000 towards the camera, which take the place of the existing set-up.

Residents put in $100 each to install the original camera, and there would be “no problem” covering the remaining cost, Butters said.

In total, it will cost around $3000.

Butters, a former rural police constable, told the Chronicle there were between 50 and 70 privately owned cameras on rural Whanganui roads.

“It’s how people protect themselves,” he said.

“This is funded by the community and run by the community, and more and more are doing it.”

In March, the Pakaraka/Nukumaru Neighbourhood Support Group received a $1000 rural community board grant to put in a camera on the junction of Handley, Maxwell Station and Ototoka Beach roads.

Community members raised the remaining $5000.

At the time, group coordinator Kate Lynch said her community had decided to be proactive rather than reactive.

“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,” she said.

Whanganui Police Area Commander Neil Forlong said “out-of-the-way places” like South Beach experienced issues with dumped vehicles.

“There is no doubt it is very useful to have these cameras in place,” he said.

“We have had some really good results using this kind of technology, and it continues to keep communities safe.”

For the 2025/26 financial year, the Whanganui Rural Community Board will provide $3500 in funding for maintenance of 15 rural cameras in the district.

That work will be carried out by Graham Palamountain, of Town and Country TV Surveillance Solutions.

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.