CCTV decision delayed

The verdict on Warragul and Drouin's council-operated CCTV will not be revealed until a full report is presented to councillors in April next year.
Cr Danny Goss provided an update on the matter brought to council in July, after a local victim of crime called on the shire to upgrade non-functioning cameras on a solar-powered network riddled with increasing outages.
An interim report presented to Baw Baw Shire Council last week outlined the council operated public CCTV networks in Warragul and Drouin, as well as several standalone cameras installed to monitor illegal rubbish dumping.
"This began with an approach from local detectives and senior police who are pretty frustrated with the current system," he said.
Cr Goss told councillors many officers had spent time serving the neighbouring Latrobe City municipality, which had a more reputable system, and was of extremely high value in solving crime due to its reliability and accessibility to officers.
"If we were to expend on the CCTV - that would be a good use of community funds - but we would need a great deal more information in front of us before we could do that," Cr Goss said.
The officer's report stated the Latrobe system was running on mains power, while Baw Baw currently utilised a less reliable battery-solar combination, and the network architecture the local CCTV was being compared to boasted a central database at council headquarters, which police could access at any time.
"They've got a recurring maintenance budget as well," Cr Goss said, before detailing potential grant schemes that could be pursued to overhaul Baw Baw's cameras.
"We need to give the officers more time," he said and suggested further discussion with senior police in regards to operations around the state for the best, most viable option.
"We're reading in the paper every week of more crime.
"I've heard of one business here (in Warragul) that has been robbed seven times in Smith St," where there is no CCTV coverage.
Cr Brendan Kingwill agreed it was important, while admitting "it's sort of sad to say that."
He went into the specifics of council's 36 cameras throughout the shire, while pointing out Yarragon, Trafalgar and Neerim had been left out of the equation, despite crime in those communities continuing to persist.
"I think we also need to ask ourselves if it's a fair, balanced approach, to community safety across the shire," Cr Kingwill added, before stating "the report raises more questions."
"I think it's even a bigger question we need to ask - who is responsible for the CCTV," before suggesting it should perhaps fall onto Victoria Police and/or the state government more so than the ratepayers.
Mr Kingwill clarified he wasn't suggesting "we shouldn't play a role," but thought it unwise to commit to further expenditure without investigating the options.