BY NATALIE GALLENTI
A DECISION by Brimbank Council to install CCTV cameras in a syringe-filled Albion laneway has been described as a quick fix by frustrated parents.
At last week’s meeting, the council approved a recommendation to trial the installation of CCTV surveillance for one month in the laneway, to investigate measures to address drug use and to continue monitoring the number of syringes found in the laneway.
The council also vowed to consider closing the laneway if the problem continued.
The decision to install cameras comes two months after a petition signed by 172 concerned residents, calling for the laneway to be closed, was tabled at a council meeting.
However, at last week’s meeting, general manager for infrastructure and environment Paul Younis, said the laneway was well utilised and closure would require people to walk an extra 350 metres.
Mr Younis said if CCTV footage revealed behaviour of an undesirable nature, the response would be increased surveillance or police would be called to investigate.
Council administrator Meredith Sussex said the issue was a very difficult one.
“It’s not 100 per cent clear that closing the laneway would solve the problem anyway,” Ms Sussex said.
“In a sense, we can move them (drug users) on and hope that where we move them to isn’t going to create similar problems.”
But the solution has left concerned parents unsatisfied.
Mother of two Paula Bissett said the problem continued to get worse as summer approached and video surveillance would only deter drug users for a month.
“Our feeling is, it’s great that they want to help the youth who are using drugs,” she said.
“It will deter people for a month, but then what will happen after that?”
Ms Bissett, who has an autistic daughter in Prep, said a counter placed in the laneway did nothing to deter drug users, instead more syringes were found, even some stuck in a nearby school’s fence.
Describing the council’s decision to install a camera as a “short-term solution”, she said, parents would be forced to continue monitoring the laneway over the holidays.
Ms Bissett has to take her daughter Hayley, 6, through the laneway constantly to practice what to do if she sees a syringe.
“It’s our children, we are so committed to this issue.
“A bit of innocence has gone. Our children have been forced to learn about drugs at a young age.”
