In response to a growing community perception of slow response times and inadequate police attendance in the suburbs, the City of Melville and its neighbouring Council, the City of Cockburn, began a shared Community Security Service (CSS) in 2004. The CSS is an open book arrangement detailed in a memorandum of understanding. The service delivers direct patrol services and first response to incidents or anti social behaviour, while providing community education programs to foster community spirit and inclusion.
Initially introduced by Melville in 1999, the City of Cockburn identified the CSS as the perfect solution to high community feedback scores regarding crime and the fear of crime. The partnership has since resulted in cost efficiencies, while achieving whole of business improvements; improved responsiveness to community requests; and increased security coverage.
Melville’s Manager of Neighbourhood Amenity, Malcolm Jenkinson, said seven zone officers, one roaming officer and a team leader are now employed.
“Previously Melville had only four officers to call on and Cockburn had none,” he said. “With more resources to deploy, the team leader can now direct responses and share staff numbers to resolve issues more quickly and more safely, both for the officers and residents. This allows for both activity based prevention patrolling and incident response.”
The cost of the service is allocated to Councils on a user pays basis, roughly 3/7 and 4/7 Melville and Cockburn respectively, while overheads are split 50/50. As the service expands, proportions simply change to reflect the shared users of the service.
Patrol Officers work in teams at hotspot taverns and nightclubs providing a deterrent to anti social behaviour and rapid access to Police support in the event of trouble.
Aside from completing Certificate II of Security Operations, Officers undertake various courses to be able to respond to the unique incidents they are faced with. Training is continually updated and improved with $30,000 in the 2005/2006 Budget allocated for courses, such as driver training, first aid, hazard management, and fire extinguisher use.
New staff are recruited from a variety of backgrounds, including service industries, to broaden the skills mix and encourage cross learning in the team.
Malcolm Jenkinson said the CSS is committed to developing strong relationships with other Government agencies, particularly the Police.
“Team leaders meet with police at each of three local stations once a week,” he said. “They share information to help pin point crime patterns, and to plan future actions helping to make the communities safer places to live, work and play,” he said.
For further information contact Malcolm Jenkinson on (08) 9364 0621.
