THE Shire of Northam has successfully secured $40,600 in state funding to install two new closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

The $40,600 grant will be split equally to fund two automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras at Mitchell Avenue and Northam-Toodyay Road.

ANPR technology allows law enforcement to detect, track, and deter illicit or disruptive vehicular activity in real-time.

“This grant outcome demonstrates that community feedback is a powerful tool,” a Shire of Northam spokesperson said.

“When our community highlights a priority area in our surveys, it provides the exact empirical data we need to build iron-clad business cases for external state funding.

“We promised transparency and action, and these cameras are a direct result of that commitment.”

The project is backed by the state government and was delivered through its highly competitive CCTV election commitment grant program, aimed at addressing community safety.

Northam residents highlighted it as a top priority in the recent MARKYT community scorecard.

The scorecard was a shire survey which collected data on resident opinions to find which services the community wanted a focus on.

In the 2025 scorecard review, the community rated the shire’s performance in safety and crime prevention at 38 out of 100.

The results collected contained explicit, widespread calls from residents to expand local surveillance networks and improve crime deterrence.

Data collected by the shire revealed safety and crime prevention was rated as a very high community priority with low current satisfaction.

The shire hoped the state grant would help lift safety and crime prevention ratings by improving Northam’s safety infrastructure where the community demanded it most.

The state grant program attracted overwhelming interest, with more than 300 applications submitted from 70 local government authorities across the state.

All submissions underwent a rigorous assessment by the WA Police state operations command centre and the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety.

According to the Shire of Northam, their application was selected based on a detailed analysis of local crime and antisocial behaviour trends, technical prioritisation, and strategic opportunities for network development.

The security upgrades formed part of an ongoing operational focus on safety with shire teams continuing to map out additional community-requested initiatives, including localised street lighting audits and youth engagement strategies.

Meanwhile Shire of Toodyay President Michael McKeown said their shire was also in the process of rolling out the installation of CCTV security cameras throughout the town and installation should be complete by the end of July.