Statement from Mayor Louise Crawford on community safety in the City of Port Phillip

Our recent unanimous Notice of Motion reaffirmed our commitment to creating a safe, liveable and just community and that is what we are striving to build each and every day.

We know how critical it is to invest in our local relationships and our City already has a range of services dedicated to improving the safety and amenity of our municipality and increasing its vibrancy and economic outcomes.

Our Council’s contribution to creating a safer City:

Collaboration with and support for local police

• A weekly operational meeting with police to share intelligence and coordinate efforts
• Support for Community Policing forums with sessions held across the Municipality
• Council supported CCTV including an additional $800k to upgrade the existing network
• A mobile CCTV unit purchased by our Council for Victoria Police use
• Working with Police on whether changes to our local laws are required
• Our Summer Management initiative including alcohol bans in public spaces

Local laws patrols and amenity services

• A seven day a week City Amenity team who undertake daily patrols and work with police around hot spots
• A seven day a week Rapid Response crew who provide quick response to incidents, spillages, waste, discarded syringes, and cleanliness problems
• Increased overnight street sweeping and pressure washing of Fitzroy and Acland Streets, a dumped rubbish service and enhanced graffiti management.

Homelessness, housing, and social support services

• Weekly meetings with social service agencies such as Better Health Network and Launch Housing
• Service agreements with local housing and health outreach services to support people experiencing homelessness
• Investment and partnering with the Victorian Government and St Kilda Community Housing for the Wellington Street Common Ground Project

Investment in activation and improvement of key precincts

• Close collaboration with local business associations (St Kilda, Balaclava, Port Melbourne, and South Melbourne) and traders
• Creative Lighting and lighting upgrades including the scoping of a lighting design project in Carlisle Street
• Graffiti mitigation mural projects in South Melbourne and Port Melbourne
• Investment in three vacant shopfront initiatives for Carlisle, Acland, and Fitzroy Streets
• Arts, Festivals and Events programs which drive significant visitation to our City
• Establishing a working group to support the rebuild of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea and consider improvements to Glen Eira Road and Burnett Grey Gardens
• Upgrades to public toilets at Shakespeare Grove St Kilda, Coles Carpark Balaclava, and Alma Park aligned with Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles.

How the Victorian Government can assist us in achieving a better outcome:

• Continued progress on the three-year City Street Health outreach service in St Kilda. This includes a trial for Victoria’s first overdose prevention and response helpline
• Provide additional Victoria Police resources, including dedicated, rostered neighbourhood policing, for weekly joint patrols with Council’s Local Laws officers
• Engage PTV PSOs to patrol tram stops, particularly in areas like Acland and Fitzroy Streets
• Provide funding to upgrade and expand public place CCTV and mobile CCTV trailers.

What else are we doing:

• We have initiated a roundtable of key stakeholders to provide advice and recommendations on new and innovative approaches to Safety
• All feedback received – and a further community consultation opportunity - will feed into a review of our Community Safety Plan
• We also continue to work with the MAV to advocate for increased resources, funding and programs to increase community safety.

Ensuring community safety requires a collaborative approach that we are striving to foster via the actions outlined above. But if there’s more we can be doing, we want our community to tell us. Through working together, we can deliver the safe, vibrant and welcoming City that our residents, traders and visitors deserve.

Attributed to Mayor Louise Crawford