ALBURY councillor Darren Cameron wants the city to put up its own security cameras at Thurgoona.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Labor representative believes an extension of CCTV beyond Dean Street and Lavington is warranted.
"I would put them in the commercial areas of Thurgoona, the shopping centre and the car park," Cr Cameron said.
"We've seen them be a success in Albury and they will be a success in Lavington and I don't doubt they will be in Thurgoona too.
"It (a camera system) makes people feel more secure, gives them confidence, particularly elderly people, and it's been shown it deters crime and when crime persists it enables police to be able to apprehend offenders."
Thurgoona Community Action Group representative Jonathan Howard said his organisation did not have a position on a council CCTV rollout in the suburb.
However, he suggested break-ins and vandalism were more prevalent in estates east of Kerr Road than at Thurgoona's shops.
"Given the type of crime going on there it would be very tricky to put the cameras in the right spots and they're not going to the shopping centre to do vandalism," Mr Howard said.
Cr Cameron's push for Thurgoona cameras comes as Albury councillors are to consider a revised CCTV code of practice on Monday night at the last meeting of their term.
A related report on the matter reveals the Lavington camera network is nearly fully installed and should be commissioned by December 31.
The report also states a six-month trial is due to begin this month involving two temporarily fixed CCTV systems and a trailer-mounted CCTV unit.
IN OTHER NEWS:
The mobile equipment is to deployed to areas considered hotspots for hoon drivers and anti-social behaviour.
The new draft code to be considered by councillors involves various changes of wording to existing objectives.
In particular it states the code should no longer aim to "decrease the Albury LGA's rate of criminal behaviour for assault (non-domestic violence), steal from retail, malicious damage, and resist or hinder officer".
That ambition should be altered to "provide the NSW Police with recorded material to be used as evidence to assist with the detection, identification, apprehension and prosecution of offenders engaged in criminal activity".
Council staff reason that changing the objective is merited because "it is difficult to make an evaluation of the effects of CCTV on crime rates across the wider Albury LGA from a single crime prevention tool located in a specific street or area".
Other factors cited included greater passive surveillance, better street lighting, population changes and national trends such as increased cyber fraud compared to armed robberies.
Meanwhile, the Greens top election candidate Ashley Edwards has followed party colleague and deputy mayor Amanda Cohn and queried the worth of city-funded security cameras.
"I'd like to see some data about how the cameras are preventing crime," Ms Edwards said.
"I know they make people feel safe but I'd like to see some evidence of actual crime prevention."
She said she had unsuccessfully sought police to provide a confidential report to councillors.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark https://www.bordermail.com.au/
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @bordermail
- Follow us on Instagram @bordermail
- Follow us on Google News.