Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) President, Mayor Troy Pickard has welcomed the commitment of the WA Liberal Party to a strategy that will enhance the role of CCTV technology as a crime prevention and prosecution tool.
The Liberal Party’s commitment to a State CCTV Strategic Plan follows discussions with the Police Minister regarding local government CCTV assets and their input into WA Police activity.
Mayor PIckard said, “CCTV contributes to many local government community safety and crime prevention strategies, together with initiatives
such as environmental design and community awareness programs.
“There is an increase in the uptake of CCTV, with the sector investing an estimated $6 million in CCTV assets and around $4 million each year in their maintenance and monitoring.
“As usage has increased, our members have identified a need for greater consistency in the purchase, implementation and management of CCTV assets and for coordination of processes in using these assets to assist WA Police in prosecutions.”
Mayor Pickard said WALGA was gathering information from members on current CCTV activity by local governments to identify the gaps and opportunities in current processes and investment across the sector, which would inform the proposed strategic plan.
“The proposed plan will provide an important mechanism to clearly define CCTV assets held across all agencies and establish investment and ongoing maintenance needs, both new and across the existing network,” Mayor Pickard said.
“A coordinated approach will highlight areas of best practice and priority need and assist in the nature and direction of future funding in this area — an approach which also holds true for crime prevention strategies across the board.”
Mayor Pickard announced that WALGA would be holding a Local Government Community Safety Forum in May, assisted by grant funding from the WA Police, with presentations during the conference focusing on the cost of crime to local governments, crime prevention through environmental design and CCTV.
