Following the alleged murder of a 47-year-old man in April at a Hubert Street unit, tavern owner Chris Dodd told the Gazette the site had been besieged by crime for years.
Mr Irons said in mid-2011 he recommended to the Victoria Park acting chief officer that the Town apply for the State Government’s Criminal Property Confiscation Grants Program to address the problems, which police had identified as a major crime spot.
The Town’s application to the program in May last year was unsuccessful, but the funds applied for were only to undergo capital works at John MacMillian Park and the Leisurelife centre and not the Tavern car park.
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READ NOW‘(Police) have described it as not just a site of crime, but also a meeting place for perpetrators of crime that use the area as a staging post for activity in surrounding streets around Oats Street train station,’ Mr Irons said.
Town acting chief officer Rochelle Lavery said the Town wrote to Mr Irons in October 2011, stating it would prepare a grant application for the next round of the Australian Government Attorney General’s Department Safer Suburbs.
But Ms Lavery said the Town did not apply for the recently announced Safer Suburbs round because it was only applicable to increasing security at taxi ranks.
‘Instead, the Town will be applying to the National Crime Prevention Fund for extensive lighting upgrades throughout several hot spot areas that include Hubert Street,’ Ms Lavery said.
Mr Irons said he would support the Town’s application for federal funding and would pursue other options through Coalition Justice spokesman Michael Keenan, if the application failed.
The national crime prevention fund round closes on May 29, Mr Irons said.