Many communities (large and small) and local governments (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) around Australia are taking action to improve the safety for their local areas and for the people who live there.

Aboriginal shire and Indigenous regional councils in Queensland are developing their community safety programs and strategies. To assist councils with this process, several case studies that reflect what other local governments are doing have been included below.

Actions councils can take to improve community safety

When considering what council can do to improve community safety, councils must decide which strategy or policy is right for their area. They might decide to do one or more of the following:

• establish safe public space project groups or committees
• develop policies and programs to improve the security of public facilities
• develop policies and programs to improve the layout of public spaces and community facilities (crime prevention through environmental design)
• undertake community safety audits
• implement graffiti and vandalism reduction projects
  • community graffiti removal days
  • public murals
  • community beautification or tidy up projects
• hold community safety forums
• run youth holiday and after school programs
• implement women’s safety initiatives
• donate personal security alarms to isolated or elderly people
• establish consultative committees with other government agencies to focus on crime prevention strategies.

Local governments can also help reduce local injury levels by:

• supporting or providing emergency first aid information and courses through community health centres
• providing or promoting cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training and swimming lessons
• providing information or education for dog owners and their families (especially families with young children) on living safely with dogs
• enforcing dog control regulations
• conducting regular safety audits and maintenance programs for Council playgrounds, footpaths, council sporting facilities and main roads
• developing Council protocols for reporting hazards, recording complaints and scheduling improvements in public places.

Case study - Council A

Council A developed a community safety plan around four key aims:

• reduce fear of crime and improve public awareness of crime prevention
• improve partnerships and collaboration with other agencies
• improve physical environment and infrastructure systems
• support community development programs.

Based on these goals, Council A developed a number of specific programs including a:

• community garden
• graffiti removal program
• ‘Safe families’ domestic violence education program
• ‘Women and the elderly street safety’ project
• Mayor’s crime prevention action group
• drug action team
• ‘Family connections’ early childhood intervention project
• ‘Managing your anger’ project for young people
• business crime prevention handbook.

Case study - youth action association

A youth action association in a community with a significant Indigenous population developed several projects including the ‘Colouring our community’ and ‘Community calendar’ project. These projects are aimed at fostering a sense of community, neighbourliness and belonging, and at preventing harm.

Colouring our community project

This project involves young people painting murals in prominent places in and around the town centre such as the council chambers, visitor information centre, community hall and retail store.

Community calendar project

This is an ongoing project that runs every year. It involves the design and delivery of a calendar to every home in the community. The aim of the calendar is provide a positive message based around a positive theme such as ‘Happy families are best’ or ‘Care and share - it’s only fair’. The calendar has:

• messages developed in conjunction with children and young people
• artwork done by children and young people
• a statement in the local language on each page.

Some examples of calendar messages:

• children have the right to be safe from abuse, either physical, sexual or emotional
• children have the right to be listened to
• children have the right to get help from their parents and other adults
• nobody deserves violence
• expect and give respect
• family violence stops children from feeling safe
• children often believe family violence is their fault.

Case study - Council B

Council B developed a community safety plan that focuses on seven key areas:

• leadership
• parental support
• getting the community involved
• engaging young people
• education and awareness
• incident reporting
• reducing graffiti and vandalism.

Council B’s strategies and action plans are based on these seven key areas and were developed around four basic questions:

• what does the evidence say is happening?
• together what can we do about it?
• what resources do we need?
• how will we know we have made a difference?