Northern Grampians Shire Council leaders understand many residents are concerned about growing community safety concerns in the municipality, particularly following the posting of a video on social media at the weekend depicting a young male being attacked by several other male youths in Stawell.
Mayor Karen Hyslop said while she recognised many people were looking to council in response, the video was the subject of an active police investigation and was a matter for Victoria Police.
“We have seen the online footage, which is extremely distressing to watch,” she said.
“Although council has no jurisdiction in this space, the incident highlights how rural communities such as ours are not immune from statewide challenges including youth crime and the impact it has on local residents and livelihoods.”
The incident has again raised calls for the installation of council-managed CCTV (closed-circuit television) in the shire’s public spaces.
“While we don’t have CCTV installed throughout the shire, we have done a body of work on the subject, including looking into the financial cost and privacy concerns,” Cr Hyslop said.
“CCTV camera purchase, installation and ongoing maintenance are expensive and installing CCTV at hotspots shire-wide would involve allocating hundreds of thousands of dollars from the budget.
“It is well known we are operating in a rate-capped environment and struggling to be financially sustainable. While our policy has not changed for now, priorities can be reevaluated if formal submissions are made to council.
“Unfortunately, CCTV might not necessarily deter all criminal and anti-social activity, such as this incident uploaded on social media.”
