Albury Council's Ashley Edwards says CCTV surveillance in CBD misses mark

Greens Councillor Ashley Edwards moved an alternative motion to an original recommendation to receive and note the Draft Public CCTV System Biennial Report 2020-2022.

Cr Edwards said evidence showed the cameras were largely ineffective, with a recent study showing more than 40 per cent of people still felt unsafe in some places in the Albury and Lavington CBDs.

She said only 20 per cent of respondents thought that antisocial behaviour in the Albury CBD had reduced with over half of people believing crime had either increased or stayed the same since the cameras were introduced.

Cr Edwards rejected any moves to further develop Albury's existing public camera system. Her motion said no further investment or development other than maintenance should be carried out on the existing system.

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"The key objective of our public CCTV system is to decrease Albury's rate of criminal behaviour for assault being non-domestic violence, stealing from retail premises, malicious damage and resist or hinder an officer," she said.

"These statistics do not currently demonstrate a reduction in crime. I accept that the footage ... may help apprehend offenders, however, I question whether this is part of council's role. I accept that CCTV makes people feel safer, however, according to my survey result, over 40 per cent of people still felt unsafe.

"I do wonder how safe people would feel if they knew that CCTV could not currently be shown to reduce crime - it certainly does not make me feel safe."

Cr Edwards moved that the council receives and notes the Public CCTV System Biennial Report but "preserves the operation of the public CCTC system in its current state with no further investment or development other than maintenance and community engagement".

"The public survey showed that only 20 per cent of respondents thought antisocial behaviour in the CBD had reduced with over half of people thinking that crime had either increased or stayed the same," she said.

"The CCTV system should receive no further investment or expansion beyond the existing system until evidence of its efficacy in preventing or reducing crime can be produced and if it cannot we need to start exploring some other crime prevention initiatives to make Albury safe."

The revised motion was carried with a majority vote.

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