Fast facts

Project name: Colac Crime Prevention Forum

Organisation: OCR FM

Grant program: Community Safety Fund

Grant amount: $5,890

OCR FM is a non-profit community radio station based in Colac, Victoria. It is run by volunteers and broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The station put together a panel of speakers to present a Crime Prevention Forum at the Lake Colac Bowling Club, after being awarded a Community Safety Fund grant. Speakers from Neighbourhood Watch Victoria, Victoria Police and a local drug and alcohol support group, shared stories and information on a range of crime prevention topics.

Each speaker presented information related to an element of crime prevention. This ranged from home and business protection to tips for keeping yourself safe in public and online. The forum also touched on drug and alcohol support, with guest speakers sharing personal experiences of how to prevent crime which may occur as a result of people around them experiencing drug dependency issues.

The forum concluded with a Q&A session with the audience members, and printed material on crime prevention was provided for people to take home.

The forum was broadcast live on OCR FM, and recordings were shared online for people to download and listen to. These continue to be available as a useful resource through the OCR FM website. (External link)

The station received positive feedback from all participants and attendees, with requests for more forums in the future to discuss similar themes and issues. The station indicated that if they were to do the event again, they would send out invitations 2-3 months in advance to allow more people to attend.