Long time business owners Geoff Ball of Ball’s Butchery on the corner of Belgrave St and Clyde St Mall and Lou Kesby of Lou’s Cafe Restaurant both recently had their shops targeted by criminals.

Two men kicked in and shattered one of the shop windows of Ball’s Butchery on the night of Friday July 15. 

Fortunately, the two men were caught in the act by Kempsey Shire Council’s CCTV footage which was later obtained by police. 

Photos of the footage were posted onto the business’ Facebook page and has since been shared 84 times. 

“It’s an unnecessary expense that no one needs,” Mr Ball said of the vandalism. 

“But I think Kempsey is a lot safer now because of these cameras. I’m very happy that there’s visual evidence to catch them. Before when there was none they got away with it but now they can’t. 

“Kempsey is a great town, it’s progressive and we want it to move forward. We don’t want that criminal element here at all.”

Next door, at Mr Kesby’s eatery, the same two vandals were captured spitting on the front doors of his business. A few days prior, a man was also caught stealing a charity tin from a shop counter. 

The thief was captured on CCTV footage installed inside the restaurant as well as council’s cameras outside. 

Mr Kesby posted the footage on his Facebook page which shows the man putting the tin down his pants before walking out of the shop. 

The post has been shared by 1,914 people and viewed more than 78,000 times. 

Police have since arrested and charged a 26-year-old man in relation to the theft.

“The cameras are a great thing, the more we have the harder it will be for them,” Mr Kesby said.

“We’re now using social media to put it out there to expose these people. It’s a way for us to say ‘you can’t come onto our streets at midnight and kick our windows in. We’re going to have you arrested.’  

“We don’t want anti-social behaviour on our streets and now we have these tools to prevent it from happening.” 

Council installed ten cameras in the Kempsey CBD last year as part of a pilot project. 

More cameras will be installed throughout Kempsey as well as South West Rocks and Crescent Head in the near future.

Federal Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker announced in June that another $300,000 in government funding would be allocated to council under the Safer Communities program.