The Victoria Street area in Richmond has been the setting for drug use and drug dealing for over a decade. The impacts of this have spilled over into local streets in the form of syringes littering streets, public injecting, anti-social behaviour such as defecating in the street, fighting and burglary. When someone overdoses, it’s up to locals to call an ambulance and provide CPR till it arrives. Overt drug use and dealing outside restaurants and shops in Victoria Street is affecting the success of these businesses. Council recognises that there is no “quick fix” to this problem. The causes of drug use and addiction are complex. A range of integrated approaches is necessary.
Yarra is home to world class drug and alcohol treatment services. We are working with these, the police and state government to provide a coordinated approach to the problem of illegal drug use and trafficking in Richmond.
The police and Victoria Street traders asked council to install CCTV cameras, which would cost about $1 million, in Victoria Street, to provide evidence to help police catch drug dealers and traffickers. While this is an appealing idea, there is no clear evidence that it reduces crime. Where CCTV cameras have been used, they are demonstrably effective in detecting burglaries and other minor offences – not drug dealing. There is also evidence that they drive illegal activity, such as drug dealing, into nearby streets. Residents in streets near Victoria Street do not need further illegal and anti-social activity on their door steps.
CCTV cameras are therefore not a “quick fix”. However, they may be part of the package of approaches needed, and so the Greens motion called for further information on their effectiveness and implementation before considering them again in 6 months.
The Greens also moved to enhance the things Council does to improve public safety, to re-state the long standing council support for supervised injecting facilities (SIFs) and to call on the state government to support the trial of a SIF in Yarra.
We did so because 10 years of studies of the SIF in Sydney have shown strong, scientifically based evidence that the facility removed a lot of drug taking and anti-social behaviour from the streets, as well as saving lives. A SIF acknowledges that drug addicts will take drugs – the police acknowledge this – and takes this behaviour out of the public realm, into a health facility where treatments can be offered. Drug addicts are not being offered any treatments in the places they currently shoot up, our laneways, car parks and stairwells.
We acknowledge that restaurant and business owners in Victoria Street have had enough. Residents in nearby streets should not have to tolerate the sorts of behaviour they have put up with for years. But we have to adopt measures that we know will work. Residents need strategies for dealing with anti-social behaviours. Those addicted to drugs need treatment. Those selling or trafficking illegal drugs are committing a crime and should be dealt with by the police. As a Council, we can address the first two of these, and the Greens motion was aimed at those things the Council can influence.
