CCTV cameras for Rakaia by end of year

Rakaia residents have fundraised $4500 of the about $20,000 they need to install a network of CCTV cameras by the end of the year.

The Rakaia Community Association will install the cameras as a community project.

Association chair Neil Pluck said residents want to not only make their own town safer, but also help police by monitoring the number plates of vehicles going through the town.

This would help police get on top of the theft of vehicles, boats and caravans throughout the South Island.

Pluck said about 30 people turned up to a meeting to hear the latest on the project.

Security company operator Ken Eccles spoke at the meeting about the cameras.

There would be three automatic number plate recognition cameras, including two on the highway, alongside nine cameras around the streets of the town.

The cameras were not for live monitoring, but footage could be stored and accessed by police as they saw fit.

It was in the interest of the community to own the cameras themselves.

‘‘If we don’t like it, we can switch them off, we will own them,’’ Pluck said.