Community Safety Network

This is an invitation to individuals, groups and organisations that are interested in forming a ‘Community Safety Network’.

In establishing a network around the term ‘safety’ we need to be clear about what we mean when we use that term. Threats to our ‘safety’ equally come in the form of exploitative work, institutions such as Centrelink, police, courts and prisons, as it comes from within our own communities.

As well as pursuing and supporting positive community safety initiatives, resisting and challenging these institutions are also important and legitimate strategies.

We are not interested in participating in, or developing new forms of social control.

Ideally the Community Safety Network will become a space for collaboration between groups, organisations and individuals seeking to work on specific campaigns and projects. It will also hopefully play a role in generating a grass roots politics that can both challenge the push for more police and prisons, and that can recognizes the role that these institutions play
in reproducing poverty, racism and violence.

The first meeting will be on Saturday June the 13th at the Footscray

Community Arts Centre - 45 Moreland Street, Footscray @ 2pm.

All welcome, including the kids!

At the meeting we’re hoping to have an open ranging discussion about what people would like to see the network doing.

The following people are also gonna come to give a specific talk about their work:

• A representative from the Federation for Indian Students in Australia

• Tamar Hopkins will speak briefly about the network launching a Police Accountability Campaign

• Umer will give us a run down on the work of the newly formed Melbourne Copwatch

• Phoebe Barton will give us a brief on the work currently being undertaken by the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People and the Decarceration Network

Some ideas that have been floated for the Network are:

That the CSN facilitates a campaign for an independent police accountability body

That the network establishes a alternative police complaints mechanism that is capable of anonymously receiving reports of police misconduct, collating and publishing that information, and refering people to available support services.

That the network publishes a website that can act as a hub for news; hosts the alternative complaints mechanism; is capable of uploading stories and videos from the streets; and can connect people who are looking to get involved in this kind of work.

That the CSN acts as a mutual support network for people and communities that are experiencing both state and non-state violence

see yas down there!