Councillor speaks out against city’s security crackdown

City of Melbourne councillor Dr Olivia Ball has warned that the council’s security initiatives are heading in a troubling direction and represent a misuse of public funds, with new safety officers set to be equipped with handcuffs and given the power to make arrests.

In the council’s 2025 Budget, $2 million has been allocated to “expand the visible safety presence in the city”, which will fund 11 Community Safety Officer (CSO) roles aimed at targeting begging and anti-social behaviour in the city.

According to a council report outlining the initiative, the CSOs would be authorised to act under the municipality’s Local Law code, provide on-street support, and connect people in need with existing support services.

The scope of the officers’ powers was not fully detailed at the June meeting. However, speaking on ABC Radio on July 31, Lord Mayor Nick Reece said they would be “the real deal” and have handcuffs and the power to make arrests.

“I do not support it,” Cr Dr Ball said. “Council cannot afford to spend millions upon millions in this way with such poor evidence and evaluation.”

Before the CSOs were established, the City of Melbourne conducted what was meant to be a security trial involving two security guards supporting Local Law officers in patrolling the city.

This trial was intended to inform the potential expansion of the security program. However, the trial has been extended to October 1, and Cr Dr Ball believes there is little evidence to support further expansion.

“No detailed design of the trial was ever provided,” she said. “Any evaluation of the trial is severely hampered by the near absence of baseline data and a clear articulation of measurable objectives.”

“The people most at risk on our streets are those sleeping rough. This program is not about protecting them. It’s making their hard lives harder.”

The Homeless Persons Union launched a petition in September calling on the City of Melbourne to scrap its plan to hire CSOs to target homeless people in the CBD, instead urging the council to fund programs and services to support the homeless community.

In a submission to the City of Melbourne’s Council Plan 2025–29, which outlines the council’s intent to bolster its security investment, the union said there needed to be greater investment in housing, support services, supervised injecting rooms, and strategic facilities for homeless people.

“A lot of people experiencing homelessness are extremely traumatised. It’s a hard life, even if it’s just for a few weeks,” the union stated.

“The city is becoming a scary place for ordinary people with police and security guards everywhere – a place of cruelty and inhumanity.”

When the CSOs were announced in June, managing lawyer at Fitzroy Legal Service (FLS), Meghan Fitzgerald, made several recommendations to the City of Melbourne.

Ms Fitzgerald said that FLS supported the collection of further data to define the community safety concerns the trial aimed to address and urged the council to engage with health and community services, government agencies, the courts, and Victoria Police.

FLS also recommended that the trial be suspended until a review was completed, to ensure alignment with broader community safety objectives, coordination with vital social services, and to consider the legal risks and human rights impacts of the program.

Community health service Cohealth has also raised concerns about the trial’s impact on their clients.

Earlier this year, CBD News reported that some clients had been urinated on, verbally abused, or assaulted while sleeping on Melbourne’s streets. Following the security guard trial, clients reported feeling intimidated.

Cohealth alleges that it was not consulted during the trial, despite the council initially indicating it would do so.

However, a City of Melbourne spokesperson refuted this, stating that claims it did not consult Cohealth were incorrect. The council claims it consulted Cohealth on multiple occasions, both before and during the trial.

Member for Melbourne Ellen Sandell said that she was “deeply concerned by reports of the intimidation tactics being used by security officers against our most vulnerable community members”.

Putting private security guards on our streets is not a sustainable solution. We need proper investment into housing and wrap-around services for people experiencing mental health challenges, homelessness or substance use, Ms Sandell said.

“Deploying private security guards in Melbourne signals a worrying shift towards punitive, right-wing policies that don’t belong in our city, and also don’t work to keep us safe. We should be investing in the things we know work, like long-term housing, health and wrap-around services.”

Another facet of the council’s security expansion is a significant investment in CCTV cameras. A total of $2.1 million will be spent upgrading and expanding the Safe City Camera Program, activating more than 100 new cameras.

To support this, the Victorian Government will contribute an additional $3.5 million.

This too, has raised alarm bells for Cr Dr Ball, who is particularly concerned about the council considering the use of AI to analyse video footage.

“It’s time council left security cameras to the State and to police, for policing and emergency services,” she said. •