Ballarat Inspector Bob Heaney said the attack with a meat cleaver on Tuesday evening and the shooting at Golden Point on November 4 both involved parties known to each other.

"These recent instances of violence were not random incidents. They're not random acts of violence and they're not members of the public going about their day-to-day business and being attacked for no reason at all," he told The Courier.

"The parties were known to each other so the community should feel safe about going about their business and if they don't, call us."

Inspector Heaney said Little Bridge Street was high on Ballarat police's list for regular proactive police patrols.

"We try to have a presence out there as frequently as we can - both mobile and foot patrol - by both uniform and plain-clothes officers," Inspector Heaney said.

He said the area was covered by CCTV cameras, which police had access to.

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With COVID-19 restrictions lifted and life returning to normal, he said police had shifted their focus from enforcing compliance with restrictions and were now focused on increasing a visible police presence on the streets to ensure community safety across the city.

"We want to reassure the public that we are doing everything we can to ensure the community is safe," he said.

"We will have ongoing operations around public order management, around community safety in shopping centres, at sporting events, licensed premises and we are putting a lot of resources into road safety.

"We want the community to go about their lives, get back in the community, go to shopping centres and support their local businesses."

He encouraged anyone with concerns about behaviour or offending to call Triple Zero as an incident is unfolding and police will get there as soon as possible.

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