Liam McNally
Moorabool council has adopted a policy that will allow it to begin introducing CCTV cameras into the shire to monitor things like community safety, asset security and illegal dumping.
At a council meeting on November 1, council adopted a CCTV policy which will provide a broad framework under which a set of procedures will be developed to allow Council to implement systems for varied purposes.
Moorabool mayor Rod Ward said there was a significant amount of public interest in the policy.
“It was quite notable that the significant amount of feedback from the public was in favour of this due to issues like illegal dumping and public safety, but, there’s got to be obviously strict guidelines in place,” he said.
A draft of the policy was put out for public comment between August 10 and September 7.
Seven people responded to the public consultation, with six people supporting the policy and the introduction of cameras to public spaces citing issues including a perceived increase in crime including robberies and graffiti.
One response suggested suggested council consider the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras when implementing CCTV systems at entrance locations to Hopetoun Park and other strategic locations such as entry and exit points from the Western freeway, Gisborne Road in Darley and Bacchus Marsh-Geelong Road in Maddingley for crime prevention and detection.
Council officers said the use of CCTV systems at entry and exit points of towns has been discussed with Victoria Police – Implementation of such systems would require the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding between Council and Victoria Police which the newly adopted policy does allow for.
Council received one submission that did not agree with the adoption of the policy, which cited concerns around privacy and the potential for facial recognition cameras to be used.
There were also concerns around the legality of implementing such systems and Council’s ownership status of the land on which systems would be installed.
Council officers responded to the submission that maintaining the privacy of community members is extremely important and is “embedded throughout the policy”.
“All relevant regulations and legislation must be followed, including but not limited to the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014,” they said.
“Council will not implement a system where it does not have ownership, management or control of the land on which the system is to be placed.
“Council does not have any plans to implement CCTV systems that utilise facial recognition technology.”
