A BATHURST businessman has again called for the introduction of closed circuit television [CCTV] across the city’s central business district after two offices in William Street had windows broken in the early hours of last Sunday morning.
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Chris King had the main window of his Bathurst Travel Centre office smashed in what he believes was a fight gone wrong just before 2.30am on Sunday.
Just up the road another business, Kelly and Partners Chartered Accountants, also had its window broken.
“It was a disturbing Sunday – one that I could do without,” Mr King said yesterday.
“I’m pretty angry at the moment. This sort of thing seems to go on every Friday and Saturday night.
“If we had CCTV in the CBD we could at least see what was happening. You’d have a better chance of identifying the person who has done the damage. As it stands now, we just don’t know.”
Mr King believes the introduction across the CBD is long overdue.
“Look, we need a deterrent,” he said.
“We need something that can pick up what’s going on in the CBD 24 hours, seven days a week.
“CCTV may not be the complete answer, but it surely has to be the best place to start.
“It would help police, help business and help the public.
“I mean, you hope it would deter people. Others have put it in place and it seems to be effective.”
Mr King has had “six or seven” breaks to the smaller windows of his Bathurst Travel Centre office over the years, but this incident has left him furious.
“It’s the first time in 24 years that the main window has been broken,” Mr King said.
“People just seem to run rife when they know there is nothing that can be used to identify them.
“And we are the ones who have to foot the bill.”
And given how tough the current climate is for small business, the expected bill is certain to hit hard.
“This time they also damaged the tiles as well, so now I’m looking at a bill of around $2000 or $3000,” he said.
A spokesperson for Kelly and Partners Chartered Accountants said their main front widow was also destroyed at around the same time.
“It was obviously a wild weekend,” she said.
“And it won’t be cheap to repair.”
But Bathurst Business Chamber president – and Bathurst Real Estate co-owner – Stacey Whittaker believes that the installation of CCTV is the responsibility of the individual business owner.
“We put it [CCTV] in at our own cost,” Mrs Whittaker said. “And it cost us thousands of dollars.
“We can see up and down our part of William Street, the car park and staff courtyard. It’s as much for staff safety as anything.
“There are only a handful of businesses in Bathurst that I know have CCTV. There may be a general case for council to use CCTV at major intersections, but I believe the onus is on each business to install it. Each business should have their own.”
