Senior officers from the City of Cockburn, in Western Australia, recently visited Frankston City Council to look at initiatives to improve people’s perception of safety in the town centre. Cockburn Chief Executive, Rod Brown, and Community Safety Director, Don Green, were taken on a tour of the Central Activities District by Frankston City Council’s Amenity Services Manager, Geoff Cumming, Community Safety Coordinator, Bonnie Baird, and Frankston Police Sergeant Mary Marshall.
The itinerary included visits to the Frankston Transit Interchange, the award-winning Safer City Centre, SHARPS Needle Exchange, Gallery Lane, the Safe Taxi Rank and foreshore. Attention was also given to the introduction of playing classical music, in Young Street, as well as new signage and streetscape redesign, which have helped to reduce anti social behaviour.
The City of Cockburn is a coastal municipality, just south of Fremantle, with similarities to Frankston City.
Rod Brown was impressed with the Council’s initiatives. “It was amazing to see all the relevant stakeholders responding to community issues and working together to achieve such great success,” he said.
The visit followed a tour by representatives of Dunedin City Council, in New Zealand, a week earlier. Other Victorian councils and police divisions have sourced information on the Safer City Centre project.
Geoff Cumming said that it was fantastic to see the interest shown both nationally and internationally in these achievements.
“It shows that we are leading the way when it comes to community safety,” he said.
