By Casey Neill
CCTV and PSOs were key talking points at the Paperbark Ward Community Safety Forum.
About 30 people attended the Greater Dandenong Council event at the Paddy O’Donoghue Centre in Noble Park on Tuesday 24 October.
Councillor Tim Dark said attendees raised concerns that the sky rail project had affected the council’s CCTV network.
He said they also asked about how safety would be ensured once the elevated rail was in place, highlighting concerns with lines of sight.
Cr Dark said he’d contacted the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) for more information.
He said Victoria Police representatives told the forum that most incidents in Noble Park occurred around the Yarraman and Noble Park railway stations.
“Everybody has a right to feel safe walking home,” Cr Dark said.
But he said changing perceptions about safety in the area was another key talking point.
He said two long-time residents, including Greater Dandenong Neighbourhood Watch president Dawn Vernon, told the forum that they’d never seen any real crime.
Fellow Paperbark Ward councillor Roz Blades said it was South Eastern Metropolitan Region MP Inga Peulich who raised the CCTV issue.
“She wanted to clarify whether the sky rail was interfering with the CCTV in Noble Park,” she said.
“One of the police answered to say that it had been, but it had been fixed up.”
Cr Blades said people told the forum that they wanted more PSOs on the stations and that work was being done to populate Noble Park through shops and restaurants.
“Young people came along and wanted to know about teaching drug education younger, in schools,” she said.
Greater Dandenong Local Area Commander Inspector Mark Langhorn spoke about police resources, Cr Blades said.
“Mark was saying that crime has increased and it’s increased in Noble Park. They’re talking about what they’re going to do about that,” she said.
“The only real way is if there’s more police.
“Every forum you go to, everything you listen to on the radio and watch on the telly, it really is only police on the beat that’s a deterrent.”
