Safe City Cameras

The City of Melbourne employs specially trained security contractors to monitor the cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Staff record incidents captured by the cameras and notify police immediately. Reports are prepared detailing the nature, time and place of an incident, as well as the action taken by staff and emergency services.

The 350+ cameras help to create a safer environment and reduce crime levels by deterring potential offenders and helping in crime detection. The majority of the SCCP cameras are owned and operated by the City of Melbourne. The City of Melbourne obtains footage from non-Council owned security cameras located at Westwood Place, Rutledge Lane, Hosier Lane and 167 Flinders Lane. Footage from these cameras is owned and retained by the owners/operators. Speaker sets are also in place across the CBD to create a public address system and can be used to communicate important messages in an emergency. This is one of several channels through which emergency services can warn or provide information to the community if there’s a major emergency.
 

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In addition to the cameras at the locations above, the City of Melbourne also operates a security patrol vehicle that is fitted with 360-degree CCTV surveillance cameras. The surveillance cameras record in real-time and the electronic media is downloaded at the end of each shift. 

At the 6 May 2025 meeting, the Future Melbourne Committee resolved to allocate funding to expand the network and requested Council officers review the program, in consultation with the Safe City Camera Program Audit Committee, Victoria Police and similar stakeholders previously engaged in in the program’s development, to consider permitting use of the camera footage to investigate and enforce local laws matters. The next steps of this review were determined by Council in the 29 July 2025 Council meeting.  

To achieve the objectives of the 6 May 2025 resolution, we have identified three key phases of work to review and upgrade the SCCP:  

• Phase 1: critical enabling works – activities include essential maintenance and upgrades and expanding the SCCP policy.  
• Phase 2: planning for expansion - activities include expanding the network of Safe City Cameras.  
• Phase 3: evolving the SCCP – activities include exploring how we can use technology to enhance the program, including video analytics.  

Planning began in May 2025 and the program of works is set to roll out over the next couple of years.  

At its 7 October 2025 meeting, the Future Melbourne Committee endorsed community consultation on the proposed expansion of the SCCP policy as part of our critical enabling works in Phase 1, which took place from 8 to 29 October 2025. For more information, visit Participate Melbourne External link.

At the 2 December 2025 meeting, the Future Melbourne Committee endorsed the revised Safe City Camera Policy. 

We are also undertaking essential maintenance and network design enhancements on the existing SCCP network, which includes upgrades to the server, hardware, switches, communication points and network architecture. This important work commenced on 1 July 2025 and is expected to be completed in May 2026.