Lake Mac draft Crime Prevention Strategy placed on exhibition

Motor vehicle theft, fraud and malicious damage to property is targeted in Lake Macquarie City Council’s latest draft Crime Prevention Strategy. The draft strategy is now on public exhibition until Wednesday 24 February.

While rates of crime have declined across NSW, Lake Macquarie ranks inside the top 20 local government areas for rates of fraud and motor vehicle theft, which has prompted a focus on these areas within the strategy.

Lake Macquarie City Council’s Manager Community Partnerships, Andrew Bryant says the focus areas really highlight how Council can make a difference in preventing crime and ensuring that our community remains a safe place to live, work and raise our families.

“Council has an important role in community safety and crime prevention and we can make the most difference by targeting these key areas. We will be looking to continue to work with Police and our community partners closely to further reduce the number and rate of these offences in Lake Macquarie,” Mr Bryant said.

“Community education and awareness plays a huge part in fighting vehicle theft and fraud. There are a range of simple measures people can take to reduce the risk of crime, like keeping car keys out of sight and secure or strengthening online passwords and our online security”.

Malicious damage to property, mostly in the form of graffiti, has also been added as a target area in the draft strategy following collaboration with NSW Police.

“Graffiti rates in our community remain high, but we know that the most successful response is to remove graffiti as quickly as possible. We would encourage the community to report incidents of graffiti on public property to Council to help identify instances as soon as possible,” added Mr Bryant.

The draft Crime Prevention Strategy is on public exhibition until Wednesday 24 February. Visit shape.lakemac.com.au/crime-prevention to review the strategy and leave your feedback.