Security arrives at Richmond West

Security cameras now have Berryfields and The Meadows covered to help make it a safe and happy place to live.

Pat Lithgow and Mike Gill have spent the past year or so working on funding and overseeing the project which has resulted in cameras at five sites around the new Richmond West subdivision.

Two of those cameras have automatic number plate recognition, with both entrances covered and cameras at intersections to see where cars head within the subdivision.

The project received grants from the Tasman District Council and the Network Tasman Trust, as well as funding from three of the building companies, that altogether provided $26,000 to purchase the cameras and erect them around the subdivision.

Pat says they are not surveillance cameras and only the police can access the footage, to help them with enquiries, usually after residents have notified them of a problem or lodged a complaint.

“It all began when this was still being subdivided and the businesses were complaining about their tools being stolen at night,” he says.

“There was a ute coming in at night and taking all the whiteware out of the houses (being built),” he says.

Pat says cameras have been very successful in Brightwater and helped both reduce and solve crimes.

“Crime will still happen, but it will get picked up.

“It feels more secure.”

Mike has spent the past 17 years driving the streets of Richmond as a voluntary community patrol member and he says the cameras will help make the new subdivision a “safer and happier place”.

He says Richmond is a far quieter place than it was in 2007 when he began patrolling its streets.

“In 2007 I couldn’t believe what was happening in Richmond. Big groups of boy racers in the Farmers carpark at 10 o’clock at night and lots of parties spilling out on to the road.

“It’s really quiet now,” he says.

“On a lot of the patrols nothing happens at all.”

Mike says the community patrols at night are a reassuring presence for communities, driving through Richmond including the colleges, Brightwater and occasionally Wakefield.