Cr Darren Cameron says the availability of cheaper internet-based cameras should be the basis of a report to the council supporting a discussion as to whether the cameras are needed at the city’s nightclub hot spots.

In seeking the report to next month’s meeting, Cr Cameron has cited a “disturbing trend” highlighted by Albury police who have briefed the council about an increase in alcohol-fuelled violence in the city in recent months.

While the level of violence is nowhere near the levels the city saw seven years ago, the rise is at odds with a five-year trend that had seen alcohol-related offences decline by 24 per cent up until March last year.

The time is right for the council to return to this discussion, given the changes in technology that may provide more cost-effective alternatives than those available when the question of the need for cameras was set aside.

Given the rise in alcohol-fuelled violence cited by police in the first half of this year, it would be remiss of the council not to consider a means of identifying those responsible and discouraging this behaviour before it gets any worse.