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CRIME PREVENTION PARTNERSHIP
Ms ALISON MEGARRITY (Menai) [5.41 p.m.]: Last week I was very pleased to welcome the recently appointed Minister for Police, Michael Daley, to a familiarisation tour of police facilities and initiatives in the Menai electorate. Minister Daley became very aware of the roads and bridges in my electorate during his tenure as the Minister for Roads. Our community was very grateful that he delivered on the construction tenders for the Alfords Point Road stage two project, the Bangor bypass stage two project, and the start of work on the substantial intersection improvements at New Illawarra Road and Heathcote Road, Lucas Heights.
On Wednesday 4 November 2009 I met with the Minister at Menai police station where we spoke with local police and also some of the shopkeepers at Menai Marketplace. After a look around the neighbourhood, the Minister went on to visit the nearby Police Dog Squad at Menai, to meet some of the human and canine officers serving at that very important facility. I was sad to miss that opportunity as I always enjoy calling into the Police Dog Squad, but time was marching on and I needed to hightail it to the other end of my large electorate, sticking to the speed limit all the way of course, to the second Crime Prevention Partnership meeting at Wattle Grove Community Centre.
The Minister had kindly accepted my invitation to also attend that meeting to hear firsthand local residents’ views about policing and community safety in that area. True to his word, after visiting the dog squad the Minister travelled on to join our meeting, which was attended by residents from Holsworthy, Hammondville, Moorebank, Voyager Point, Pleasure Point and Wattle Grove. As Minister Daley said on the day, these forums are a great way to get everyone talking about their concerns and about how we might be able to work together to make the community safer. They also give our hardworking police, like Inspector Scrimgeour who co-chaired the meeting, a chance to provide community representatives with a regular update on local operations and the targeted police initiatives being rolled out.
Liverpool City Council is a key member of the Crime Prevention Partnership, and the Minister was pleased to see the close working relationship between Liverpool council and police, particularly with regard to problems like graffiti and antisocial behaviour. After the meeting I was glad to have the opportunity to introduce Minister Daley to Allan Dabbagh, JP, the Public Officer and lynchpin of Locals Against Graffiti and Gangs, or LAGG as it is known. LAGG is a community-based organisation of civic-minded individuals who have worked extremely hard to assist council and police in their efforts to combat the scourge of graffiti and other senseless crimes of vandalism.
In the time available to me I will give the House a brief overview of the activities of Locals Against Graffiti and Gangs during the past six months. First I refer to the Adopt a Street Sign program, which entails knocking on doors and asking residents to adopt one or multiple street signs to look after when they are hit with graffiti. The resident is registered with Liverpool council as the adoptee of the signs and they are required to paint over the sign with paint provided by Liverpool council within 24 hours of the sign being tagged. This initiative has been very successful, with about 40 per cent of the signs being adopted and others being cleaned anonymously by residents who do not want to be registered with either LAGG or the council.
Secondly I refer to graffiti removal training. LAGG volunteers attended Liverpool council’s safe graffiti removal training session. The volunteers were trained in the types of chemicals to use and how to safely remove graffiti, as well as how to capture any run-off that may occur. Thirdly I refer to surveillance of graffiti hotspots. LAGG members have been conducting surveillance over the past six months. During their overnight patrols they provide police with information as to the whereabouts of graffiti gangs, locations they have recently hit, and possible future targets based on previous patterns. Fourthly I refer to information gathering and reporting to police. LAGG members have provided critical intelligence to police regarding two investigations currently underway, including information such as times and identification details of the alleged perpetrators.
I should point out that by day Mr Dabbagh, whom I referred to as the linchpin of this organisation, runs his own local business employing many people. Therefore the day and night time hours he devotes to LAGG activities would be a significant impost on him, his business, and his family. I would like Mr Dabbagh and the other members of LAGG to know just how much our community appreciates the efforts they are putting into LAGG. It is fair to say, as Mr Dabbagh pointed out at the meeting, that police, council and LAGG are learning to work together for their mutual benefit. The relationship was not smooth to start with, but they are learning to work well together and are managing this situation appropriately. Obviously members would be concerned about vigilantism, but LAGG is very sensible in the way it conducts its activities and in the way it works with police and council. I hope that LAGG and indeed the rest of my community will be happy to hear about the Graffiti Control Amendment Bill that has been introduced in the House. I am sure that together with other measures the bill will enable us to get on top of this problem.