Police have launched the biggest inter-agency approach to fighting crime attempted in the region, using the Illawarra's three councils and almost a dozen government departments.
The Crime Prevention Partnership was announced last year by the NSW Office of Premier and Cabinet and has been adopted by the Illawarra with representatives from police, councils, RailCorp and the Attorney-General's Office as well as other government departments such as Education and Training, Juvenile Justice, Health and Housing involved.
On Monday, the group met in Wollongong to begin implementing its detailed action plan which has a three-pronged approach targeting malicious damage, theft from motor vehicles and alcohol-related crime.
Numerous strategies using the resources of all agencies will target up to a dozen intended outcomes in each of the three crime areas.
The Mercury yesterday met with Lake Illawarra area commander Michael Willing and Shellharbour City Council's group manager of community services and development Melissa Forland for an exclusive look at the action plan to reduce the rate of damage.
The plan has 10 intended outcomes, which include:
Developing a crime profile for malicious damage that includes the identification of hot spots and serial offenders;
The promotion of graffiti management strategies;
Fostering community ownership of suburbs;
Crime prevention through environmental design principles;
Addressing issues of alcohol misuse;
Increased identification of offenders.
Mr Willing said he was optimistic the long-term "whole of government" approach would be a success.
"The police just don't have the resources to do it on their own (and) other agencies are now stepping up and acknowledging and recognising that crime isn't just a police problem - all of us have an impact on it," Mr Willing said.
"Multi-agency partnerships do work if you get everyone at the table, talking the same language and with the same level of commitment, because other agencies are able to do things that police can't."
Mr Willing cited numerous ways the agencies would work together.
"How would the police remove graffiti from railway tracks, for example? We need RailCorp on board," he explained.
"There are things that we can influence but we need councils on board driving the process with design issues and using their resources to communicate with the community.
"How are we going to address alcohol related crime on our own? You need (the Department of) Health on board, because there are health issues involved and you need the (NSW) Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing on board because they have got powers and strategies as well.
"Other than that, you continue walking down the path and doing things in isolation, where pooling resources has been proven in other locations to work."
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter