About one offence a week is reported to police from the popular swimming and picnicking spot or the road leading to it.

The call comes as a woman died in a car accident on the road on Saturday. Police found her dead in her vehicle about 4am, after her car left the road and hit a tree.

Tuggeranong officer in charge Sergeant Daryl Neit, speaking before the weekend's accident, said he wanted the area to be locked to vehicles in the evenings, when most of the crime happened.

“For the simple cost of a lock, sometimes I wonder if that’s just an easier way to keep the hoodlums out of there, particularly at night, I don’t know why anyone would want to go there after dark anyway,” he said.

Sergeant Neit said 50 offences at the recreational area had been reported to ACT Policing between March 1, 2012 and February 28, 2013, including four arson attacks, 20 vandalism offences, a sexual assault and six serious traffic offences. There were also 13 stolen and recovered vehicles found in the area. The tally did not include minor traffic incidences resulting in fines.

A similar nightly lock-down at Pine Island recreation area introduced in 2002 had largely stopped the vandalism and “hoodlum” activities there.

Sergeant Neit said he had investigated complaints made by nearby Gleneagles residents and was now recommending the Kambah Pool gates to be locked at night.

“Fifty [reported offences] in just one year, in that one period virtually, is quite troublesome and something that we need to work on as a strategy,” he said.

“We just want to take the criminal element, the hoodlums, out of it, and stop the place from getting smashed up, which then costs us as a community more and more all the time.”

Gleneagles Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Geoff Puleston said the group supported the move to lock the gates at night but did not think it would not solve all of the residents' concerns.

Constant burnouts and “hoon” driving on Kambah Pool Road was a major concern for people in the area.

The hoon behaviour affected pedestrians, horse riders, the golf club and residents constantly woken by screeching tires.

“We certainly support it – it’s certainly not going to be the fix all, but it will be one of the things to mitigate the reason for hooning,” Mr Puleston said.

Territory and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenbury said he hadn’t had any specific requests from rangers about closing the area at night but he was open to the idea.

‘‘Certainly we do consistently have vandalism at some of the remote recreational areas,’’ he said.

Sergeant Neit urged residents to report further incidences to him at the Tuggeranong Police Station or to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

- The Chronicle