Vandalism and theft of Council assets sky-rockets
27 July 2016
Council appeals to public to help catch culprits
Vandalism and theft of Council plant and equipment is costing ratepayers more than $3500 a week and Council is appealing to the community to help catch the culprits.
Over the past 15 months the incidence of theft and vandalism of Council’s assets has sky-rocketed, with thieves stealing more than $121,000 of plant and equipment from depots, vehicles and worksites and causing more than $96,000 of damage to buildings and vehicles in the break-ins - and these figures do not include the theft of manual hand tools.
While Council’s depots and yards are fenced, protected by CCTV cameras, patrolled by security guards and all tools and equipment are marked with data dots, Council is appealing to the community to report suspicious behaviour around depots and worksites after hours to catch the thieves and vandals.
“We don’t want the public to confront anyone acting suspiciously but to note what they look like, their vehicle description and registration number and call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Council’s after hours number on 1800 818 326,” General Manager, Troy Green, said.
“If you see a vehicle towing a trailer with plant in the back in the middle of the night, that’s suspicious. Note the registration number and report it.”
In the past two years, thieves have stolen two utility vehicles, a caravan, a trailer, a stump grinder and ride-on mower from Council depots.
Once, thieves hit a worksite on Kyogle Road breaking every window in a roller and stealing all the electrical switches out of a loader.
“The cost of the theft and vandalism to the two plant items was about $15,000 but the cost of the downtime was extraordinary. We had to order the roller windows from overseas and they took nearly two months to arrive. The loader electrical switches also had to be ordered from overseas and they took six weeks to arrive and one week to install. The cost of downtime was $34,000.”
A month ago, four computers were stolen from Cabarita Depot and recently TSC-branded hand tools were recovered at a pawn shop in Queensland.
Murwillumbah Depot has been broken into four times in six months; Buchanan Street yard and Cabarita Depot get hit about three times a year.
Vandals also are regularly raiding the ratepayer dollar by damaging plant.
Council recently had to pull two brand new mobile lunchrooms out of service after one had the bars ripped from the windows, the electrical inverter stolen, lock-up boxes damaged and both units sprayed with graffiti. One of these incidents happened within the first week of the unit being on site and cost ratepayers $4000.
Before the end of the year, new technology promises to assist Council further when tracking transmitters are trialled on all plant. When that plant leaves the depot or worksite, it will be visible to Council immediately.
“The sky’s the limit in what Council could spend trying to protect its property from theft and vandalism but the greatest deterrent is a community that won’t accept a small criminal element pilfering from the public purse,” Mr Green said.
“Council and the community cannot afford this. The money is better spent on roads and services.”
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Caption: The cost of this one-night raid on a Kyogle Road worksite was $49,000.