A TAMWORTH man is behind the push for action on a crime wave sweeping the city, and is urging residents to share their stories.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Paul Chambers is concerned for his family’s safety, and believes there are others in the Tamworth area who feel the same.
As police report a spike in break-ins this month, Mr Chambers has taken to social media and is collating stories from victims of crime.
He’s hoping to present the stories to local political leaders as a united push for a resolution to the problem.
“I am feeling that this town is becoming less and less safe and less and less the town I want to raise my daughter in,” Mr Chambers told The Leader.
“It’s dividing this town and it’s resulting in people not trusting others, isolating themselves, developing deep rooted hate for some people and moving away from any sort of community spirit.”
Mr Chambers said the stories were aimed to generate a response from elected officials and hoped they could understand what people have to “endure” on a daily basis.
“I’m hoping that by sharing their personal stories people can feel a part of this change. It’s only a start.
“I’m simply asking people to email or post through Facebook their stories about crime and how it has affected them.
“I will put them all together in a letter at the end of the year and send them to our political representatives. I want them to know how much crime has impacted families and (I) want them know that more needs to be done, it can’t continue.”
Mr Chambers said the community deserved a response and a plan put in place to change the city’s crime issues.
While he hasn’t himself been a victim of crime, it’s impacted those around him.
“I have had family and friends who have and live in fear of it happening again.I am also raising a young family and want my children to feel safe, to trust their neighbours and feel like they belong to a community and want to contribute to it,” he said.
“ People are angry, they feel unsafe, they feel like they are trapped and they want people held responsible for their actions.
“ People want to know what’s being done to fix the problem, whether it be drugs, theft, vandalism, domestic violence.”
Mr Chambers is urging those with stories they want to share, to email them at tamvoc@hotmail.com.
