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Safe City review implementation

City of Perth rangers at Moort-ak Waadiny / Wellington Square

Our City is growing rapidly and community safety is integral to the growth and vitality of the city and its community. Last year we undertook a review of our Safe City Plan 2021-2025 to ensure we continue to deliver efficient and effective community safety programs and services for our community and visitors into the future.

The review presented the timely opportunity to define contemporary safety approaches for a modern, vibrant and globally-orientated capital city, with enhanced partnerships with community, businesses, government services and other safety and security organisations.

What did the review consider?

The Safe City Review evaluated all components of the City’s safety programs and services, including:

  • Effectiveness and compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements
  • Interdependencies with the Emergency Management Framework
  • Alignment opportunities with other City services, such as parking security
  • Investment in CityWatch security infrastructure
  • Operating and governance risks
  • Data systems and potential alignment with other City ICT infrastructure

What were the findings?

The review made the following positive observations about the City’s strong safety foundations, dedicated teams and effective initiatives:

  • The City benefits from skilled personnel and effective partnerships
    A key example is the CityWatch team’s strong collaboration with WA Police. The Safe City Rangers have also exhibited strengths in adaptability, meeting a broad range of demands and responsibilities, as well as effectively coordinating response efforts with a range of partners, including the Department of Communities, WA Police, and other City staff.

  • The City has built genuine community relationships and support
    The City, including its Rangers, and Waste and Cleaning teams, have built genuine relationships with community members. Their unwavering commitment and care has created a sense of trust, significantly enhancing community connections and support.

  • The City has embedded cultural shifts and community-focused approaches
    The positive cultural shift within the City’s workforce is reflected in a collective commitment to collaboration, resilience and a shared vision for the future. The Parking team exemplifies this through positive community engagement by prioritising education over enforcement. This focus on helping residents to understand regulations fosters a more informed and cooperative community environment.

The review also identified the following opportunities for improvement:

  • Better integrate business intelligence systems used to deliver community safety across the City to improve our ability to plan operational responses
  • Enhance our inter-agency collaboration with agencies such as WA Police and the Department of Communities to focus operational effort where it is required
  • Foster further collaboration among City Community Safety Teams, including City Watch, Rangers, Parking, Parks, Waste and Cleaning to maximise use of our resources
  • Futureproof City Community Safety ICT systems, including our CCTV network and other related technologies.

What has been implemented to date?

The opportunities for improvement will necessarily be implemented over a number of years due to the need to integrate, streamline and enhance various systems and functions.

In 2025/26, the City is focusing on the foundational pieces related to integration of business and intelligence systems, governance processes and ICT infrastructure, as well as implementing improvements in cross-functional collaboration between City teams.

Outcomes will be shared as they come to hand.

Other related actions

Alongside the Safe City Review, Council put forward notices of motion related to safety, with a particular focus on Wellington Square. In response to the notices of motion, this year the City is also:

  • Conducting a comprehensive safety assessment of the recent upgrades to Wellington Square. The assessment will examine how well the park’s design supports safety, and identify potential design enhancements to improve safety, accessibility and inclusivity for our community.
  • Commissioning independent research to better understand seasonal visitor usage in the City’s public parks.
  • Trialling the use of mobile sound level monitoring equipment in the public realm, and assessing the effectiveness of our current community safety campaign.
  • Developing a Wellington Square Events Activation Strategy to maximise the activation of the park, with a focus on the warmer months between November and March.

Updates on these initiatives will be shared as they come to hand.