A BID by Albury councillor Darren Cameron to have CCTV cameras installed in the city has seen him recall a personal incident in which he was beaten and left for dead near the former Ritz nightclub in 1992.
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However, his retelling of the story of the attack against him has been insufficient to convince all but one of his council colleagues of the need to install cameras in Dean Street between David and Olive streets and in two areas in Lavington.
It was the first time since 2010 that the council had revisited the issue of CCTV.
In that year it agreed to support the Albury RSL in increasing security on Monument Hill after a spate of graffiti.
Since then, figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research for Albury have shown the number of liquor offences have fallen, while non domestic violence assaults have stabilised between 2008 and March this year.
Part of the reason for council’s hesitancy on the issue is cost.
While Albury police have made an offer to monitor cameras on a “passive level” if they were installed, councillors including Henk van de Ven have expressed their concern about the installation and operation costs of the cameras to ratepayers already feeling the pinch.
