In an unprecedented move, Ballarat’s top police officers will ride trains next week to collect crime intelligence from commuters instead of hosting town hall meetings.
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The shake-up comes after the Victorian government selected Ballarat as one of 12 crime hot spots where new surveys will be distributed by police, giving the community a greater voice in a push to crackdown on offending.
Inspector Dan Davison, who moved to Ballarat this month after postings in Swan Hill and the Northern Territory, said local officers were “here to listen and to do the right thing by residents”.
“Policing is led by intelligence,” he said.
“And there’s different ways to gather that intelligence, including talking on trains or collecting a survey.
“You provide us with information about your safety and policing concerns.
“We’ll then analyse and assess that information and work with our partner agencies in adopting the right strategies to deal with it.”
Ballarat’s Acting Superintendent, inspectors and the Proactive Policing Unit will ride local V/Line trains on December 5 and 7 in a bid to connect with residents and hear their concerns.
Police will also set up information stalls at shopping centres such as Stockland Wendouree, Central Square and Bridge Mall.
The move coincides with the release of the survey, which is available online and will be distributed to Ballarat letterboxes.
Police hope to engage a big audience through the questionnaire, capturing a wider array of opinion than would be possible in a town hall.
“Often we rely on social media or the paper to advertise these initiatives, but we in Ballarat thought it would be a different way to capture an audience and find out from the people what they want,” Inspector Davison said.
“My mantra is, we’re open for business, and that goes from a busy 24-hour environment of Ballarat to the one-member stations I now look after in the Pyrenees.”
Information collected by police in the survey, on trains and in shopping centres will be used to bolster the work of Ballarat City Council’s Community Safety Advisory Committee, which is chaired by councillor Des Hudson, who is also a serving police officer.
The committee will team up with community groups to take part in a range of crime fighting initiatives involving Victoria Police, Neighbourhood Watch, Crime Stoppers and the Department of Justice and Regulation.
The $5.6 million program is also being rolled out across the state in Wyndham, Melton, Whittlesea, Cardinia and Latrobe.
It will extend to a further six communities – Brimbank, Dandenong, Frankston, Knox, Shepparton and Geelong – from July next year.
Each community will reportedly receive up to $50,000 in funding.
It comes to Ballarat a month after local police made six targeted arrests amid a crackdown on youth offending, which officers have said has seen a subsequent drop in aggravated burglaries.
The latest Crime Statistics Agency numbers released in September showed crime had risen for the fifth year in a row in Ballarat as the city’s population spikes.
There were 217 residential aggravated burglaries in the last financial year across Ballarat, up 43 cases on the year before.
In 2008, there were only 39 aggravated burglaries.
Speaking in October, Ballarat-based Inspector Trevor Cornwill said a small group of recidivist offenders were behind this year’s string of aggravated burglaries and motor vehicle thefts.
To complete the new crime survey, head to engage.vic.gov.au/communitysafetynetworks/ballarat-community-safety-network
