The Safe City Camera Program (often referred to as SCCP) refers to the network of CCTV cameras currently in place throughout the CBD and adjoining suburbs, which are used to assist with police investigations and emergency response.

The Safe City Camera Policy (often referred to as 'the policy' or 'draft policy' on this webpage and in associated documents) refers to the new draft policy that proposes to:

• Expand the remit of the SCCP so cameras can be used to investigate breaches of local laws and regulations, including those which create costs to ratepayers. This could include graffiti, dumped rubbish, and unpermitted construction or roadworks.
• Allow authorised Council officers to request SCCP footage to help them investigate and respond to breaches of local laws and regulations more efficiently.
• Outline the parameters for how City of Melbourne manages the information collected by the cameras.

At present, the Safe City Camera Policy has been combined with its operating manual, which has meant that the policy has not been made public as the combined document contains operationally sensitive information. This new policy would be separate from the manual and therefore publicly available on the City of Melbourne website.

The 2025/26 budget allocates $2.1m to upgrade the Safe City Camera network, with $1.56m allocated to fund the essential maintenance works and network design enhancements.

The Victorian Government has also committed $3.6m for the expansion of the Safe City Camera network.

The Victoria Police Sentiment Survey 2024 found the top three safety concerns were in the categories of “safety in public places”, “safety of my property and possessions" and "drugs and alcohol”. The most common responses about how to improve safety were "increased police presence", "more patrols", and "improving community environments such as better lighting on streets/more CCTV".

Research indicates that CCTV may reduce vehicle, property or drug crime in certain settings and can assist in police investigations – to achieve these aims, CCTV should be actively monitored and used in conjunction with other crime prevention interventions, as is done for the SCCP.

The expansion of the policy to address alleged breaches in local laws will not impact the existing role of the SCCP as a tool to help police identify, detect and respond to crime.

The full list of local laws that the SCCP will address can be found on our Local laws and regulations page. These local laws help Council to manage a range of issues that impact the amenity of our public places and the environment.

Our community wants Melbourne to look and feel clean and safe. The 2024 Neighbourhoods Survey identified that “cleaner streets, waste and graffiti removal” is a top priority for residents.

The M2050 Vision and Council Plan 2025-2029, which was informed by extensive community engagement, also highlighted the value our community places on the look and feel of the city, with cleanliness and city presentation emerging as a strong theme.

Proactively responding to issues like dumped waste, graffiti and street cleanliness issues is a big task, which could be improved by enabling more efficient local laws investigation. In the 2024/2025 financial year alone we removed close to 650 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish and 142,500 square metres of graffiti. Currently, illegally dumped rubbish is managed through reporting, inspections and observations of alleged breaches.

Although our local laws team already investigates these matters, the volume of infringements and cost to ratepayers often brought on by such breaches indicates a need to make this process more efficient. Enabling our officers to use the Safe City Cameras to investigate these matters aims to do this. The policy expansion also creates an opportunity to improve the occupational health and safety of our team by providing our Local Laws Officers with an additional tool and clear operational framework to gather evidence in support of these investigations.

The current state of the Safe City Camera Program combines both the policy and operating manual. Given that the manual contains operationally sensitive information, we have not been able to make it available publicly.

Transparency and accountability regarding the use of CCTV in public spaces is critical. Importantly, there have been no complaints in relation to the SCCP in the past three years.

We want the community to have trust in how we manage the personal information collected by the Safe City Cameras. We believe that a public-facing policy which articulates how the cameras are used, under what conditions and with what safeguards, demonstrates our commitment to transparency.

The current operating manual and policy outline the program’s primary purpose as assisting Victoria Police in identifying crime. For this reason, our security contractors primarily monitor the cameras for criminal activity to report to the police.

We are always looking for opportunities to improve our service delivery, and our community has told us that cleanliness, presentation and overall amenity in the city are top priorities for them. To that end, the new purpose of the SCCP in the draft policy will be to:

• assist Victoria Police to identify, detect and respond to crime
• assist in emergency response
• assist Council to identify, respond to and enforce matters covered under local laws and regulations including, but not limited to:
  • damage to public or private property and infrastructure
  • defacement or destruction of the natural environment
  • acts of public nuisance
  • other breaches of local laws leading to costs to ratepayers.

These changes will allow us to use our camera network to more efficiently manage breaches of local laws and regulations throughout the city. They will also bring us in line with many jurisdictions worldwide that already use CCTV to monitor and respond to amenity-related issues, including illegally dumped rubbish and damage or theft of council assets.

The community consultation on the Safe City Camera Policy expansion aims to gather information about the following:

• Overall community sentiment on the new Safe City Camera Policy, namely its proposed scope and our management of personal data.
• Which local law and regulations you're most concerned about, to see how the proposed changes align with community attitudes and to potentially guide future updates to the policy.
• Any additional issues or concerns that the community believes could be addressed by the SCCP.
• How easy the Safe City Camera Policy is to understand.

After the community engagement period, the final Safe City Camera Policy will be presented to the Future Melbourne Committee for endorsement in December 2025. If endorsed, we will look to implement the policy and publish it on the City of Melbourne website as soon as possible.