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Avoid theft – keep your identity safe

Police Museum

Sunday Lecture Series

June 27,  2010

11am

 Avoid theft – keep your identity safe

Keeping personal details off the internet, covering your pin number, securing your mail and changing your banking passwords regularly are some of the steps people need to start taking to protect their identity.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes around the world with criminals defrauding banks, stealing account details and committing other crimes under false names on a daily basis.

Detective Senior Constable Rod Shelton of the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group will present “Identity Crime – the fastest growing crime in the world”, to discuss the current threats including how it happens, who is affected and what to do if you are a victim.

Included in the presentation will be details on credit card skimming and how to prevent it from happening to you.

Detective Shelton has been a Police Officer for 16 years, including eight years as a detective. He speaks at various community groups and also in international and local professional forums on the topic.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, June 27 and will provide educational and up-to-date content suitable for any audience.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE: The Police Museum will open Sunday, June 27 from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. 

Guest Speaker

We would like to see you at
Crestmead PCYC next to Community Centre Gimlet Street start 6.30pm

MONDAY 31ST MAY Guest Speaker
Jennifer Fredericks Logan City Safe

MONDAY 28TH JUNE Guest Speaker
from Richardson & Wrench Real Estate

MONDAY 26TH JULY Guest Speaker
from Queensland Police Service

SAFE PLATE SCREWS

GREAT NEWS - We have been successful in a recent grant application for the SAFE PL8 SCREWS. These screws can be fitted to your registration plates to prevent them from being stolen. In the near future we will be undertaking sessions for these to be fitted through the district crime prevention office by police and volunteers in policing.

The dates and venues will be announced in both our newsletters and the local free press as well as our web page and the Logan City Web Site events calendar.

NEWSLETTER May 2010

Message from The Area Coordinator
It was good to see some new faces at the last meeting and we welcome all to come along to the next meeting. Jennifer Fredericks from Logan City Safe will be able to answer your questions about the role of council programs including the cameras, park rangers and other schemes to make living in the city more family friendly.
At the moment unfortunately there are a number of scam artists around the city trying to con people out of money. The scams range from collecting your rates THESE ARE NEVER EVER COLLECTED FROM YOU ON YOUR DOORSTEP!! Also we now have Fire Ants back in the area and some criminals are trying to fleece people of their hard earned money by searching for fire ant nests on their property. Please contact Police if suspicious. Bio Security from DPI is responsible for fire ant detection and we will arrange a speaker later.
Other scams recently in the suburbs have been people trying to sell you some “left over” bitumen which ends up costing more than having a driveway done completely. Also people claiming to be in your area and noticing that a tree looks dangerous and needs cutting down at a reduced cost. THEY ARE ALL SCAMS
We have arranged to have a speaker from the Fraud Squad to come to speak to our community in early September. More details nearer the date.
In conjunction with PCYC we will be part of the Volunteering Awareness Day on July 24th, which will be an invitation to you all to see what volunteering is all about and how volunteers can make a difference in the community.

Take care Geoff

NEWS FROM CRESTMEAD COMMUNITY CENTRE
Upcoming events at the centre are as follows:
BLUE LIGHT DISCO
Themes for the rest of the year
June 5th—Singer or Actor
July 3rd—Winter
August 7th—Super hero
September 4th—Rainbow
October 2nd —Space
November 6th Halloween
December 4th—Christmas
TEDDY BEARS PICNIC
June 12th for kids of all ages
MONTHLY GAMES NIGHT
June 26th
MARKET DAY
14th August
Currently bookings are being taken for both Teddy Bears picnic and Market Day stall holders—on website www.crestmeadcommunity.org.au or by phone 3805 1423
Games night tickets are on sale and are selling fast

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDES
This year we are again selling ENTERTAINMENT GUIDES —cost $65 & for each book sold we raise $13 towards NHW funds. Please support this fundraising effort, which helps to provide our information service to the community.
The savings in each book total over $15,000 so are very good value covering such things as hotels, car hire, fast food, restaurants, adventure parks, movie tickets and much much more.
Please contact Geoff on 0431 478 343 or email crestmeadnhw@hotmail.com to order.

CPR AWARENESS PROGRAM
Learning CPR could save someone you love the CPR awareness program is a Qld local ambulance committee community program teaching the community this important life skill. It is easy and will give you the confidence you need to perform CPR if needed. All it takes is about 90 minutes of your time and a gold coin donation.
Contact JUNE 3808 6621 or Crestmead Community Centre on 3805 1423

NEWSLETTER April 2010

Message from The Area Coordinator
Thank you to those members of the community who have contacted me regarding crime and upcoming events in the community. It is very encouraging to know that the community require the group to continue being a recognized face in the fight against crime. The recent Live Local Shop Local expo at the Logan Metro Indoor Sports Centre was a huge success and it will be a great help for us all to support our local trades people—not only for convenience but also because it is providing work for our local population.

You will no doubt be aware of the recent media coverage regarding the illegal riding of trail bikes and other noisy vehicles in the suburbs. This then leads on to the council proposal to have a regional trailbike facility at Wyaralong west of Beaudesert. Perhaps you have comments and concerns that you wish to make? Please note that our speaker for the May meeting will be Jennifer Fredericks from Logan City Safe. She will be able to outline a lot of the plans and community schemes that the council have in place for the benefit of us all. This involves such diverse things as safety cameras, graffiti management, park rangers, and various planning designs to prevent crime. I invite you all to come along and be informed. One matter of concern which involves a small minority of people is the illegal dumping of rubbish in the vicinity of Clarke Road/Green Road. This area is particularly prevalent, but of course we all see examples of it around our beautiful city. PLEASE do the right thing and use the Logan Smart Tip at Browns Plains or the twice yearly council pick ups that are available. It costs ratepayers money to clean up after the minority that are doing the wrong thing.

On a security note, our newsletter deliverers have noticed on many occasions that mail which clearly displays names and addresses, are left hanging out of letterboxes. At times it is evident that the documents enclosed could be important and as such could be used by criminals to assist with identity theft. These docu-ments could include credit and charge cards, bank statements, power and phone bills and rates notices. All of these documents are used by those unscrupulous people who are willing to run up large debts in other peoples names. So as a reminder, try to make sure that your mail box is large enough for mail to be pushed into without the ability for someone to easily access. Also if you can have a lock on the box all the better. Otherwise please make sure you clear your box as soon as possible and not leave mail to build up. Also the delivery of free newspapers and advertising material which is left scattered around the mail box area and onto the nature strip can be an invitation to burglars that you are not home—a request for your neighbour to remove if you are absent will be a great help.

PLEASE DO NOT BE A STATISTIC FOR ONE OF OUR FUTURE NEWSLETTERS.

On a lighter note, calling all volunteers to register with Logan City Council for their VALUING LOGAN’S VOLUNTEERS event to be held at Riverdale Park, Meadowbrook on Saturday 8th May between 10am and 3pm. As the Frank Lenz Memorial Volunteer of the Year award winner from the Logan City Australia Day awards, I can appreciate the difference that volunteer-ing makes to the donor and recipient - sign up — it will be worth your while.

Take care Geoff

ANTI DRINK DRIVING MEASURES
Queensland Government is seeking public feedback on a range of potential interventions to combat drink driving which is included in the new DRINK DRIVING IN QUEENSLAND - A DISCUSSION PAPER.

The discussion paper includes a number of topics for consideration and comment including enhancements to random breath testing, reviewing the general alcohol limit, tougher sanctions such as immediate licence suspensions and vehicle impoundment, compulsory blood testing following road crashes and examination of the future arrange-ments of restricted “work” licences.
 

You can also obtain information from www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au
 

Give your feedback on the proposed interventions by 17th MAY 2010 by completing the online feedback form on the website or by written submission to:

Drink Driving Review Team
Department of Transport and Main Roads
PO Box 673 Fortitude Valley 4006
SAFE CITY STRATEGY 2011-2015
 

Comments can be made on the Safe City strategy before 5pm Friday 23rd April 2010

You can also make submissions by mail or by commenting in the “Have your say section” of http://www.logan.qld.gov.au or Phone 3412 3412 for details

NEWSLETTER March 2010

Message from The Area Coordinator
Due to unforeseen circumstances we were unable to provide a newsletter for February and the meeting was cancelled, so I would invite you all to our next meeting on March 29th. This is the day following NEIGHBOUR DAY which is a good reminder for us all to take a minute to think about our neighbour—if you do not know them, can you take the time to introduce yourself? It could make such a difference to both them and you.

We are hoping to provide several interesting speakers this year and we will support other local Neighourhood Watch groups with their meetings and events. Unfortu-nately several other groups in the area have already closed due to poor support and I can only commend to you that the stronger the NHW groups are, the better chance we have to support our police and live in safety and security. We have been promised by our local police station that they will have a police presence whenever possible at all our meetings, so this will be your chance to approach them with any concerns informally.

We would like to know what subjects you would like covered this year for meeting talks and information to be provided to your website. Again this can be conveyed to me either by email or by leaving a message on my mo-bile phone. It was very encouraging to be elected area coordinator for a further year at our AGM in November and I would like to thank John Mickel for taking the time to attend and officiate the pro-ceedings for the election of the new committee. I am grateful for the support and encouragement received from our committee and members and I acknowledge them all for their assistance over the past two years.

Please note there will be no Blue Light Disco next month as the date would coincide with Easter weekend, so the next disco will be held on May 1st.

The Courier Mail has had a recent article regarding the crime rate on the rise in Logan. However with an in-creasing number of police allocated to the area, plus the ACTIVE support of Neighbourhood Watch members—THAT IS ALL OF YOU—we can make a difference and make this area not only safe but a pleasant place to live. The telephone numbers for the local police sta-tions are shown overleaf. Also the Beenleigh Operations number is the main number to contact for all hours—don’t forget to ask for a crime number and that way you have a reference number to use if you have any further queries.

We understand that the PCYC will be selling the new microdot system for marking your valuables soon—more information when they will be available but in the meantime NHW still have free access to engravers which can be used by Volunteers in Policing if you require this to be done for you.

Finally the recent traffic incident which was one waiting to happen when people ride round the streets on un-roadworthy and unregistered vehicles whether “pocket rockets” or trail bikes has resulted in the serious injury to a young person and no doubt trauma to the innocent driver of the legal vehicle involved in the collision.
No one wants harm to come to anyone but when will parents and adults who use these vehicles realize the danger they are putting—not only to themselves but to others on the road.

Take care Geoff

FROM COURIER MAIL MARCH 13-14 2010
Currently there is a Social Development Committee undertaking an inquiry to consider the risks associated with cannabis use, particularly for young people.
Further information 07 3406 7230
The committee invites written submissions for
comment by Friday 23 April 2010 to:
The Research Director
Social Development Committee
Parliament House George Street
Brisbane 4000
There is also a call for submissions from the Economic Development Committee for the inquiry into the road safety benefits of fixed speed cameras.
Further information is available from www.parliament.qld.gov.au/edc or 1800 504 022.
Submissions are to be sent by 30 April 2010 to The Research Director
Economic development Committee
Parliament House George Street
Brisbane 4000

Crimestoppers is the number to use if you wish to remain anonymous to report any activities or information for investi-gations on criminal activities.