A former police officer, who was recently honoured in the 2025 Lismore Citizen of the Year awards for helping the community tackle the escalating crime problem, is bringing his innovative and effective approach to the Lower Clarence, holding a public meeting next month.

Sparked by the theft of his garage door remote control from his car parked on the driveway of his Goonellabah home in February 2024, Andre Els has held community crime meetings attended by hundreds, helping equip locals with the tools and technology that has resulted in 9 people being jailed in the past 2 months for breaking into homes or stealing.

Teaming with three other former police, the impact their combined 50 plus years’ experience and method has had, led to strong support from Federal Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, and Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin.

Mr Els told the CV Independent when he heard about the increase in crimes in the Clarence Valley via social media, he offered to hold a public meeting at Yamba to assist and help educate the community.

After experiencing his own theft, Mr Els spoke to neighbours, discovering the same perpetrators had broken into a house, stolen a neighbour’s keys and then her car.

“When I made some further inquiries, I found out that it was not just us, that a lot of the community were being broken into the same way in Goonellabah, and that’s what got me going… so after a couple of weeks I called a community meeting which was attended by Janelle Saffin, Kevin Hogan, the Mayor and 300 people at the Goonellabah Sports Club,” he said.

“We had a microphone, and everybody got to provide their input which resulted in a lot of valuable information.” After the community meeting a group was formed to try to combat the issue.

“We ended up with 4 former policemen and we started checking so see what was happening, where it was happening, and how they were actually getting into the houses, and we started working with the police and Janelle Saffin and Kevin Hogan,” he said.

“We made more and more inquiries about what they were doing, how they were doing it, and who they were, and we found there was 38 habitual criminals, who were mainly youths and how they were breaking into the houses.

“So, we found the Orange We Watch app and that was a lifesaver for us once we started to advertise it and everyone started to get it.”

Mr Els said if someone is breaking into your home, the group always recommend calling the police first, then to put on the Orange We Watch app exactly where the incident is happening so everybody around you is informed.

“That app notifies everybody around you within one kilometre of where you live of what’s happening, and as soon as someone comes onto your property, we want you to put your lights on so there’s a better chance of finding anyone,” he said.

The initiative has seen police response times to incidents in Goonellabah reduce significantly, Mr Els said.

“Since we started this whole thing, the police response times have come down by 5 to 10 minutes, which is working well for us,” he said.

“The other thing we’ve managed to do is work out how they’re getting in, so we’ve been telling people exactly what to do.

“In some instances, they are using children as young as 10, who can reach into smaller spaces, and they cut the wire on screen doors, or flyscreens, so the younger person can reach in and unlock the door, then the older youths can access the home and steal… usually car keys.”

In tandem with the We Watch app, Mr Els recommends EUFY C2 CCTV cameras, of which he has installed more than 80 for free around Goonellabah, that can be purchased from Supercheap Auto at Lismore or Ballina for $530 when you mention Mr Els – a $200 discount off the regular price, or at Mitre 10 Yamba, and Supercheap Auto Grafton for a $150 discount when mentioning Mr Els of $580.

“They are really easy to install and have no wiring,” he said.

“As soon as the cameras detect the intruders, a siren sounds and we see these intruders on the camera footage, running for their lives.

“In the past 2 months we have assisted the police in locking up 9 habitual offenders.”

In just two posts on the Yamba Noticeboard Facebook page on different days, Mr Els received more than 220 responses from concerned and supportive locals.

The former police officer who was stationed at Kings Cross, when the late, infamous Detective Sergeant Roger Rogerson was on the beat, and at Redfern, said he had reached out to Bowlo Sports and Leisure Yamba as a venue to host the meeting.

Currently the Community Crime Meeting is scheduled for 10.30am on Sunday, March 9.

The CV Independent will inform the community in print and on our social media channels of any changes in location or schedule.

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 12 February 2025.