The power of radio: 93.9 Bay FM inspires new Victorian police plan

Geelong radio station 93.9 Bay FM says a new police plan to crack down on street violence throughout Victoria, which is based on a model successfully trialed in Geelong, demonstrates the power of radio when it is harnessed for the good of the community.

The five-year plan was announced by police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon yesterday, and will include the reallocation of police resources, additional patrols on Friday and Saturday nights and increased use of other resources, including CCTV.

Nixon says The Way Ahead plan is largely based on Geelong’s Operation Nightlife, which was implemented in the wake of Bay FM’s award-winning 2006 Street Violence Community Forum.

The Bay FM Forum was held following a series of shocking attacks in Geelong, including several brutal rapes and murders (see our earlier story). The live-to-air event drew police, local council, state government and community leaders together to force them into action over Geelong’s street violence problem. The forum extracted promises from key bodies, including police and government, to take firm and positive action.

The result was Operation Nightlife.

Nixon says she had observed the success of the Geelong operation and had based the new strategy on that:

“We’ve started to see a decline in Geelong’s problems and I think that as I get feedback from obviously (police) members as well as the community that things are looking better.”

Bay FM News Director Rob McLennan has told radioinfo the success of the Forum, and the ongoing programs that have sprung from it, demonstrate that people power are still a force to be reckoned with:

“Our aim with the Street Violence Forum was to focus community anger at the lack of action on street violence, and hold the decision-makers to account.”

In the wake of the Forum and the announcement of Operation Nightlife, Geelong council installed additional CCTV cameras in Geelong. The Forum also forced local nightclub operators to work more closely with police. Official police figures show street crime in Geelong’s CBD has fallen by as much as 75% since the Violence Forum a year ago.

“That’s an extraordinary drop by any measure and it was only achieved by combining the will of the community with the power of radio to force people in positions of authority to act.”

The ongoing results achieved by Bay FM’s Street Violence Forum earned the Bay FM News Team a national Community Service Award at the 2007 Australian Commercial Radio Awards.