THE Horsham community is poised to have its say on a new CCTV camera project in the city.
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Horsham Rural City Council received a $190,000 grant from the Department of Justice’s Public Safety Infrastructure Fund for the project earlier this year.
As part of the project, existing cameras will be upgraded and new ones installed.
The cameras will have live feeds to Horsham Police Station, giving police the ability to review footage and monitor it if required.
Horsham Rural City Council engineering assistant Andy Van said a consultation process with Horsham businesses was already underway.
He said the council had provided businesses in the CBD with an outline of the project and sought feedback.
He said the consultation process had been positive.
“On the whole, my impression is that the cameras are being well received,” he said.
“Business owners see it as a good thing and are quite supportive. I don’t think I’ve had a negative response yet.
“We had a report from Victoria Police which indicated clear hot spots for community safety and crime prevention.
“From that we have provided the contractors, DyCom, with a rough design brief.”
Mr Van said the council hoped to upgrade its existing stock of 12 cameras, which started at May Park and went to the end Firebrace Street at the Wimmera River.
He said there were six prime areas council was hoping to cover with the new cameras.
“The locations are not purely based on crime statistics,” Mr Van said.
“They are also based on a recommendation from the Victoria Police crime prevention officer that he wants to create safer places.
“The new system will be fully operational by May 2013 and we are hoping to get a lot of the preliminary work done by early February.”
Council estimates it will need to increase its recurrent budget from $5000 to $14,500 a year to cover increased maintenance and network costs associated with the system.
DyCom – which specialises in CCTV cameras – has worked with other councils and Victoria Police on similar projects.