What we did!

From 15 December 2022 to 30 May 2023, we asked the community to share what they think would make Shellharbour City a safer place for everyone to live.

Over this time period we:

• Met and heard from over 700 people.
• Attended eight community groups or activities.
• Hosted six separate pop-up engagements around the city at events.
• Created three opportunities for people to meet with council and police officers and chat about safety.
• Received 102 Let's Chat survey responses.
• Emailed 530 people.
• Reached 13,423 people on social media.
• Promoted the project through local schools, community centres, libraries, Shellharbour Civic Centre, service providers and businesses.
• Spoke with the Lake Illawarra Police to collaborate on what council can be doing to reduce crime in the area.
• Used actual crime data from local police and NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research to identify key focus areas.

Using a variety of ways to gather feedback from the community allowed us to hear from people of many ages. Survey responses came in from people aged 10-85 covering all kinds of community members and backgrounds across the city.

During the engagement period, we asked for feedback from the community on what you feel are the biggest crime concerns in the area.

Take a look below to see what the top 7 concerns were.

* Most crime types have fallen or remained stable over the last 5 years within Shellharbour.

* Robbery and theft are lower in Shellharbour than the state average and it's declining!

* In Shellharbour, crime convicted as break and enter dwelling fell by 30.8% in 2 years.

* There is less assault in Shellharbour than on average in the state of NSW.

* Crime convicted as sexual assault fell in Shellharbour by 27.8% in 2 years.

To check out what NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research says about crime in the Shellharbour LGA head back to the Help Make a Safer City Let's Chat page.

What happens next?

The next steps for this project start with taking the time to dig deep into all the feedback we received. This includes reading your responses, looking for key themes, determining priorities, consulting with local police and looking for things Council is responsible for or can influence. We will then create an action plan that includes:

• Key themes for priorities.
• Actions Council can take to help make a safer city.
• Partnerships Council can invest in.

Stay tuned by following the Help Make a Safer City page to be informed when the next stages are complete!