CCTV Upgrades in town

Ōpōtiki District Council has upgraded the CCTV network in Ōpōtiki town centre and has added several new cameras in and around the skatepark, generously funded by Kānoa, central government’s regional economic development and investment unit.

Council’s Planning and Regulatory Group Manager, Gerard McCormack, said that the new network would continue to be monitored by local Police.

“The video feed goes directly to Police, as they have the appropriate enforcement role in most cases. However, funding the cameras and the installation is part of our town centre revitalisation project and have been requested on a number of occasions by the community to help people feel safer and more secure around the CBD.

“The upgrades mean the cameras now provide better quality footage and we have added a few more in, particularly around the skatepark. The park is proving to be a really popular community asset. It is a rare day, rain or shine, that there aren’t plenty of people of all ages using that great new space.

“We have had a number of issues with vandalism, so we hope that the cameras will help reduce the damage and graffiti that we are seeing.

“I know that most of the community is as disappointed as we are when new features are damaged within hours of being installed. In one case, a seat was installed in the park and before staff had even packed up their tools and returned to the depot, there was a callout to remove offensive graffiti and damage to that same seat. We encourage people to report it and make it clear that the community doesn’t want this in our public spaces,” Mr McCormack said.