What started as a simple idea from a Werribee policeman has morphed into a community safety group representing dozens of Wyndham housing estates, with plenty more to come.
The Wyndham Estate Safety Working Group held its inaugural meeting last month in a cramped conference room at Werribee police station.
Standing at the back of the room filled with representatives from 20 estates from across the municipality, was senior sergeant Clifford Hyndman.
Three months earlier, senior sergeant Hyndman noticed a growing number of complaints that all had a similar theme.
“There was a lot of complaints coming through in relation to people not being able to get through to Werribee police station from [housing] estates,” he said of a problem he soon realised was because residents in the estates didn’t know how to make complaints to police properly.
“They’re [the estates] very multicultural and no one had a clear understanding of how to contact police to get their complaint across,” said senior sergeant Hyndman, who quickly came up with a solution.
“I thought well we [police] have other committees for traders, shop owners etc, so why not one for estate residents?”
It was good idea, but with the growth of Wyndham housing estates (there are estimated to be roughly 40 in the municipality), not an easy one to pull off.
“It’s a massive undertaking,” he said.
“That’s why I started off small and brought in key stakeholders, council, Neighbourhood Watch.”
Not only did estate residents lack knowledge on how to report crimes, but even Neighbourhood Watch groups, common place in suburbs across the country, didn’t exist in the estates.
According to Neighbourhood Watch Victoria’s Nicole Peschek, after the first meeting of the Wyndham Estate Safety Working Group, that’s about to change.
“From that meeting a number of community members have enquired about establishing their own Neighbourhood Watch group, in particular to prevent crime – through knowing their neighbours, being educated in best practice community engagement and safety, and building a relationship – a rapport – with local police.”
Meetings of the group are bi-monthly, with the next scheduled for August.
Details: cliff.hyndman@police.vic.gov.au
Cade Lucas
