CCTV in Maylands
Early last year, the City was invited by the Federal Government to apply for CCTV funding (under the Safer Streets program). The grant application was successful and resulted in $298,034 in funds to put towards CCTV in the Morley Galleria and Maylands Business CBD. The end result will be approximately 30 CCTV cameras along 8th Avenue and Guildford Road. Whilst I think that CCTV has a role to play in crime minimisation, CCTV cameras also have the potential of creating unintended effects such as the “halo effect”. This refers to the potential for greater security in areas in the view of cameras; which could be offset by the “displacement effect,” which pushes antisocial activity to other parts of the city. Cameras could also promote a false sense of security and lead people to take fewer precautions, or they could also cause more crimes to be reported, and thus lead to a perceived increase in crime. This can be demonstrated by the area at The Rise which has been under CCTV surveillance for some time now. CCTV is just one small part of crime prevention. Why is the City not investing in CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design)?! Why are we not investing in human resources? Our Rangers and Security personnel total 5. Thats right. Just FIVE staff. Compared with seventeen officers at the City of Vincent, which is a smaller City! I am completely committed to ensuring that the City of Bayswater develops a strategic, multifaceted action plan to combating local criminal and anti-social behaviour. And we need to commit to having more Rangers and Security personnel on the streets.
