Jackson Street residents attended the first meeting of the new council to plea for help after the Council carpark in Jackson Street became a 24/7 encampment rife with drug dealing, anti-social and criminal behaviour for 7 weeks despite daily visits by council local law officers and frequent visits by police.
The residents gave passionate and emotional personal testimonies to the councillors during the public question time. One resident, Eamon Dawson has given us permission to share the audio of his please to council.
This 3-minute audio clip describes the harrowing and gut-wrenching impact of having an uncontrolled encampment on your doorstep that council and police are unable to move on. In short, he said he was fearful, desperate and exhausted.
Listen now – please listen until the end of his testimony
A number of other residents also gave testimony, you can view these at on the council video recording of the meeting here – Eamon is first and the others follow at the 7.00 minute mark
Council officer presented a detailed response
Council rules prevent us from including audio of the senior officer’s response due to copyright restrictions. But you can listen here from 11.45 minutes
The senior officer told councillors that local laws officers visited the site daily and that council outreach services were also involved. He said the behaviour is intolerable.
Council officers remove rubbish daily, issue infringements, but enforcement relies on the magistrate court. He reported that the local laws officers require police protection when they visit because there is a fear of knifes and other violence.
The officer said “the situation is such that Council’s local laws officers cannot go down there without police.”
He said police had the training, equipment and authority to act on criminal activity. He said arrested people often returned despite court orders that should present this.
See the full transcript of his response as recorded in the minutes below
Situation update (Sunday 1 December)
The day before the Council meeting, police and local laws officers removed the camp and placed temporary fencing to prevent a return. As of today, the fencing has prevented a return, however locals report that some of the faces have reappeared on Fitzroy Street.
Transcript from official minutes 27 November 24
Brian Tee, General Manager City Growth and Development acknowledged the members of the community who shared their experience and that what is happening in Jackson Street is having a devastating impact on the community affected.
Council officers including Local laws officers have been attending the site, and my team is there every day. We are receiving correspondence from the community and it is clear that the behaviour is intolerable, we are receiving reports of drug taking and drug dealing, there is violence and loud and aggressive behaviour – particularly late at night and there is stolen goods. My team is there every day requesting people to move so that we can clear the area. We are removing about two square metres of rubbish every day including bedding, needles, clothing, tents and stolen goods.
We are using our local laws in relation to nuisance and camping. We are issuing infringements for camping, but the impact of that local law is limited. We can issue a penalty notice for the breach of local laws every day, but enforcement is a long and uncertain process in the Magistrate’s Court. Council cannot do it alone, which is why the Council is reaching out to every agency for help including the police. We are working with the police every day to get their input and their involvement to help us deal with the situation.
At the moment the situation is such that Council’s local laws officers cannot go down there without police. We are threatened and abused and we are worried about the presence of knives. Generally police attend and we are very appreciative and grateful for that. Sometimes the police have competing priorities, but we are supportive and clear of their role. The police do have a somewhat complimentary role, they have the legislative powers, the training and the equipment to deal with criminal behaviour, drug trafficking, theft and violence. Under the Summary Offences Act 1966 they have the powers to direct any person to leave a place if they are breaching or are likely to breach the peace, endangering, or likely to endanger the safety or cause injury to another person. We have been encouraging and working with the police for them to be proactive in that policing approach and this week we saw a number of arrests. To clarify this was not police move on powers, this was the police exercising their powers in relation to criminal activities. Police powers do have their limitations, sometimes those arrested are bailed and return. The way we try and deal with that is a multi-tiered approach. We are trying to connect with service providers like Launch Housing, and the Salvation Army, with drug and alcohol support services. Every week we meet with police and service providers to try to connect individuals with the relevant housing and support services.
We do not have all the answers. Clearly it’s not enough and clearly Council and the police collectively need to do more. We will continue to review what we do. We will continually try new things. We do not see this is a police vs Council issue. We see our role as being central to connecting all of those services. I have a meeting with the police tomorrow again to talk to them about any additional actions that can be taken.
We don’t have all the answers, but we are very committed to keeping the community safe. We will continue to be there and work with the community members living nearby. We will continue to be there and look at every option to try and disrupt the activity that is there. We will continue to infringe. We will continue to clean and will work with services and we will continue to urge police action.
And we are also looking at a broader approach – updating our Community Safety Plan. This will give the community the opportunity to work with us on what else we can do.
