A Sunshine Coast global cooking celebrity is turning up the heat on criminals, launching a campaign to increase police numbers and better inform and protect her community.
Kim McCosker and her family were shocked when six young thieves invaded their Pelican Waters home on August 9.
The prominent author’s Mini Countryman, emblazoned with her famous 4 Ingredients branding, was taken, along with her husband’s Range Rover and son Morgan’s prized Toyota Supra.
- Related article: Celebrity cook calls for action to halt young criminals
Ms McCosker has since worked to turn the confronting experience into a productive one, meeting with police, politicians, community leaders and businesspeople about how to improve the situation.
She is pushing for more patrols, particularly at night, and says she was stunned to learn her fast-growing area had not been allocated an additional full-time police officer in more than a decade.
Ms McCosker is organising a series of public forums to arm Caloundra residents with knowledge of crime rates and policing in their area, plus information to keep themselves and their property safe from crims.
The open public forums are the result of talks with police, community leaders and businesspeople following the break-in.
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The first on Wednesday, December 8, at 5.30pm at the Caloundra Power Boat Club will feature:
* Caloundra Police officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant John Mahony, who will speak about recent criminal behaviours and criminal patterns.
* Hamish Pressland, general manager of development for Pelican Waters, who will cover automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) video cameras and the effect they’ve had elsewhere on roads.
* Division 2 Councillor Terry Landsberg, who will outline what support Sunshine Coast Council can offer.
- Seats for the December 8 Crime Forum are limited. RSVP to kim@4ingredients.com.au
Another public forum is scheduled for mid-January with State Member for Caloundra Jason Hunt. An invitation has been issued to Police and Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan to attend.
Ms McCosker said that following media interest after the robbery, she found herself with a platform for change, but wasn’t quite sure what was needed to combat the crime problem.
“So I went down and spoke to John (Mahony) for a good hour to understand what would help,” she said.
“He explained that, ‘We are a limited workforce. We haven’t had a new full-time (officer) employee allocated to Caloundra Police in over 11 years. We are trying our best’.
“We’ve lived in Pelican Waters for nearly 15 years and so much growth has happened in our beautiful suburb, plus that in neighbouring Bellvista, Aura, Caloundra South, Baringa and Nirimba.
“When I spoke to Stockland, they said, ‘It’s the fastest-growing development in Australia today’.
“Couple this growth with all the population migration to our area, without one new full-time police officer: it really is unacceptable.
“I’m happy to pay my taxes and rates, I’m happy to contribute to the running of our state and region, but this is unacceptable.
“Unfortunately, nothing will change if we, as a community, don’t stand together and ask.”
Caloundra Police currently has 38 general-duties officers working full time or on flexible work agreements at full strength, but that does not take into account holidays, sick leave, long-term sick leave or COVID deployment.
Ms McCosker acknowledged that a “perfect storm” of conditions was bringing teen gangs from Brisbane and other areas to the south to commit crimes in “geo hotspots” such as Pelican Waters.
“A lot of these gangs come in from down south, they’re looking for areas of wealth within close proximity of a highway because of the police pursuit policy (senior police have the power to order officers not to chase a vehicle if the offender has already evaded police, to minimise the risk of innocent Queenslanders being injured or killed inadvertently).
“They can hit that highway and know that they’re home free because no-one can pursue them.
“If everybody knows this, if everyone knows that Pelican Waters is a geo hotspot because of its geography, because of its location, because of its wealth, what are we doing in addition to protect it?”
Ms McCosker said crime was continuing so it was up to the community to “change the narrative”.
“We need to, as a community, come together and let everyone know that we don’t accept the current status quo.
“We need more help down here. We need automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras which is what the police are telling us will help them.
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“We need night patrols. In terms of a visible police force on our streets after dark, it is non-existent.
“The only time you see police on our streets it’s reactive to a call for help. This is what we have to change and the only way to do that is as a collective force.”
Ms McCosker said the forums aimed to gather “law-abiding, honest citizens” who cared for their community to tell all levels of government that the current police numbers and resources needed a long-overdue boost.
Sen-Sgt Mahony said he saw his role at the forums as giving the community an accurate assessment of crime in Pelican Waters and Golden Beach, including a clear picture of the predominant offenders and why they were committing offences in the area.
“Most importantly from my perspective, I want to speak about how police and the community can work together to enhance community safety,” he said.
