CCTV cameras 'not enough' to stop train station crime

Car parks at Brisbane train stations should be locked and accessed with Go Cards in a bid to improve security, a public transport lobby group has suggested in the wake of a violent attack on two young commuters.

Rail: Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said while Brisbane's train stations were statistically safe, more could be done to improve security in station car parks.

Sunday night's attack ensued when two women, both aged 21, were returning to their car at Coorparoo train station about 9pm.

They were both assaulted after refusing to hand over the keys to their white Kia hatchback.

Their attackers stole the car and fled.

"QR have [locked up car parks] in the past but that was more about preventing cars from being broken into during the day," Mr Dow said.

"We would like to see secure car parks where you need to use a pass to get in, for example using Go Cards.

"It would also then control who's using park'n'ride car parks and restrict it to only public transport users."

A Queensland Rail spokeswoman didn't rule out the suggestion, but said tactics to combat crime were "constantly being reviewed".

“Serious crime on the [QR] network has not climbed in recent years despite considerable patronage growth," she said.

The spokeswoman said QR had installed 6800 closed-circuit television cameras across the interurban rail network - 4300 of which were at train stations and car parks.

“In relation to the incident at Coorparoo station car park, police have been supplied footage to assist with their investigation," she said.

“The rollout of surveillance cameras across the network has been particularly effective, not in only preventing crime but also assisting police in tracking down offenders and prosecuting them through the courts."

However Bond University criminologist Paul Wilson said while CCTV cameras may help to solve crimes, they did little to prevent them.

Professor Wilson, who co-authored a major study of the effectiveness of CCTV cameras at train stations in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast in 2006, said security cameras were effective in detecting crime - and in some cases stopping it from escalating - but not preventing it entirely.

“CCTV has not been shown to be a particularly strong preventative measure against crime,” Prof Wilson said.

He said it was necessary for CCTV cameras to be well-advertised and monitored 24 hours a day in order to deter would-be criminals.

“If CCTV was well-advertised and functioning and monitored then I would expect it to have some preventative effect. If it's not then it will not be effective at all.”

Across the QR network, CCTV cameras record footage but they are not usually monitored in real time.

In occasional cases they can be, however, monitored in real time - if, for example, QR staff or police were alerted to an incident unfolding at a particular station or on a train.

Mr Dow said while crime statistics showed that train stations were actually safe places, it was the public's perception that they weren't.

Eighty-five per cent of brisbanetimes.com.au readers polled yesterday said they didn't feel safe at Brisbane train stations at night.

"To put security guards in every station, that's pretty difficult [financially].

''There is camera surveillance at train stations but it's not real-time.

"[CCTV cameras] don't really act as a deterrent like real-time surveillance does."