Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp declares city is ‘safe for women’ in wake of Eurydice Dixon’s death

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor says a police briefing has assured her of the safety of the city’s streets the wake of Eurydice Dixon’s death.

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor has declared the city is safe for women despite saying last week she would not feel comfortable walking the streets at night in the wake of Eurydice Dixon’s death.

Sally Capp’s revised comments came as she and other city leaders put on a united front over women’s safety after days of division over the response to Ms Dixon’s alleged murder.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton also rolled back comments made by senior police last week that were criticised as putting the onus on female victims of crime rather than male perpreators.

Ms Capp, three weeks into her term as Lord Mayor, said a special briefing given by senior police at their Docklands headquarters had reassured her about Melbourne women’s security.

“Following those discussions … I feel satisfied that Melbourne is a safe city. I believe that we’re doing everything we can to make it safer,” she said. “The existing investment in CCTV cameras and what will be increased investment in CCTV … will be instrumental in both predictive elements of crime but also in deterrent of crime.”

Ms Capp told Melbourne’s 3AW radio last week that she would not feel safe walking the city’s streets at night and that an adequate level of safety would be difficult to achieve.

“No (I would not feel safe at night). I think the practical outcome of that is ‘No’. And it’s going to be difficult to achieve that, really,” she said.

A previously announced 31 new CCTV cameras are due to be set up across the City of Melbourne and police will undergo a criminal prevention assessment of Princes Park, where Ms Dixon was murdered.

The prevention assessment will take up to a month and will assess whether the park, near Melbourne University’s major colleges, needs more lighting or security cameras.

Chief Commissioner Ashton also told reporters police had to be more careful in their language after a backlash last week from feminists and Labor ministers over police statements on women’s safety.

“You’ve always got to be careful when these sort of events occur … our language has got to be right … if our language isn’t perfect, we need to reflect on that and we’ve done that,” he said.

“The last thing we want to victim-blame … the officer was just saying that ‘we have a murderer on the loose … be careful’ … that sort of got lost in the message.”

Police Minister Lisa Neville said additional CCTV would help bring down crime but said there was “underlying issues” with men’s behaviour towards women that needed to be addressed.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

“It is a very safe city … but it is also a very important reminder that this is the worst of realities for women, that you fear, about some of the attitudes you see from men.”

“We all have responsibility as a community to tackle those underlying attitudes that some men have to women … we’ve got to end violence towards women … and tackle gender inequality.”

Meanwhile, police and emergency services have cleared up graffiti at the makeshift memorial for Ms Dixon in Princes Park where she was killed.

Police found lewd markings at the site around 3:50am this morning during a routine patrol. Firefighters used water and brooms to remove the white paint around the floral tribute.

A GoFundMe campaign raising money for Ms Dixon’s family had amassed more than $67,000 over the weekend. The fund will stay open for another two days with some money to go to the murder victim’s favourite charities.

Jaymes Todd, 19, has been charged with Ms Dixon’s rape and murder. He will face court again in October.