CARAVAN PARK CRIME SPREE – OUR SAFETY UNDER THREAT

In the past two weeks, caravan parks have seen a vicious robbery, a deadly fire and a near-fatal shooting, which begs the question – are they as safe as we think?

It all descended into chaos when a 67-year-old man was woken from his sleep and threatened with a tyre iron by two thugs, who quickly left with cash. Not one week later, a 54-year-old man was shot in the torso at a Brisbane caravan park and sent for emergency operations – he’s still fighting for his life in hospital. Later that day, three caravans were damaged and a resident was forced to flee from her home, after a suspicious fire tore through a Melbourne caravan park.

Now, I’m not asking caravan park owners to set up patrols, that would be ludicrous. However, we pay for caravan parks so we can feel secure or leave our van unhitched while we travel – can we still do that without feeling threatened by these hooligans? Should we start avoiding big cities in the hopes of avoiding crime? I think not! We can’t let these low-lives dictate where we should and should not travel.

I think it’s time to start asking our state Ministers to toughen up on crime. We don’t hitch up our caravan and go holidaying, only to travel in fear. If we had harsher penalties for crimes, then perhaps these delinquents would think twice about taking what’s not theirs.

To make parks even safer, we could always start introducing ourselves to our park neighbours. That way we can keep a vigilant eye on each other in the name of safety and call the police when there’s danger. After all, we can’t let thieves and hooligans run this country.

What do you think about caravan park security? Is it tight enough? Or should they be doing more to protect the people staying there? Email me at [email protected] to have your say