TARGETING issues that matter most to locals will be the focus of Hamilton Police after they launched the Neighbourhood Policing Model in partnership with other agencies across the Southern Grampians Shire (SGS).

Under this new state-wide model, each Local Government Area will have a Local Safety Committee comprised of people representing the key agencies within that community, who will work in partnership to provide a multifaceted response to concerns.

SGS residents can now report issues or concerns, including photos, through the ‘Report a Community Safety Issue’ section on the SGS Council website, with all responses sent to the Hamilton Police Station to be assessed by coordinators and directed to the appropriate agencies or community groups.

At a local level, police will be tasked with gathering, recording, and monitoring these issues and concerns, before providing feedback to the people who reported them.

Southern Grampians Local Area Commander, Inspector Steve Thompson, said it was important to reinforce that the Neighbourhood Policing Model should be used for residents to report non-urgent concerns for a ‘no lights, no sirens’ response.

“It’s not to replace a police response or council response or mental health response or anything like that, it’s just if someone’s got an issue and they want to raise it in an accountable forum and they think it needs a coordinated approach to be addressed,” he said.

“There are different things that we might not be consciously aware of but there’s a pocket in the community that identifies an issue.

“The issues reported are assessed by local government and Victoria Police and other agencies or organisations are on board to work on the best community solution.”

One crucial element of the model is community involvement, with Insp Thompson saying communication with residents will play a key role, especially when it comes to closing the loop and providing feedback on the outcome of issues.

“We get a lot of anonymous reports and stuff (but) this isn’t for that,” he said.

“This is for someone who has identified an issue - yes we will maintain confidence - but at the same time we probably will need to go back to them and we will need to work with them to properly understand the issue and identify the best solution or solutions.

“As coppers sometimes we do things very well and we resolve problems but we’re not so good at giving that feedback and so people don’t know that that issue is resolved.

“This is a way that we can do that better.”

Local Safety Committee member Hamilton Regional Business Association vice president, Jill Dickeson, said the model would provide people with “a great way of being able to communicate” with local agencies, giving all members of the community a public voice.

“Often we don’t like to call the police to something unless it’s an emergency, where this actually allows you to address things that have been bothering you or things that might be going on that can be dealt with in a timely manner but not as an emergency,” she said.

“It could be something happening on a regular basis and it’s not really problematic but you could see it becoming a problem, and you get to put that in before it becomes an issue.

“It’s about preventative processes - like seeing something before it’s happening.”

 Southern Grampians Shire Council Local Laws team leader, Jason Barker, said the framework of the model encouraged a collaborative approach to issues, allowing things to be addressed in a timely manner.

“With all the joint agencies working together we can actually get a fair bit done in a period of time that we may not have been able to otherwise,” he said.

The Local Safety Committee covers organisations in multiple areas including mental health services, with South West Health Care mental health team leader, Praveen Premnath, saying the model would be great from a preventative perspective.

“From a mental health point of view, obviously people have concerns about people’s wellbeing and they’re not really sure if the person they’re concerned about wants to get help,” he said.

“So if there are any inquiries like that, there will be approaches we can take to make sure they are not confronted by anything.

“I think that feedback also gives people increased confidence about the services.”

The Local Safety Committee is an inclusive group looking to welcome any interested organisations or agencies.

The Neighbourhood Policing Model was developed after a survey and research was conducted earlier this year to hear what safety issues were important to locals.

The model aims to build trusted and supportive relationships between local police officers and the community.

To report a community safety concern online, visit sthgrampians.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.aspx?Page_Id=3328

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