White Ribbon Day originated in 1989 after a mass shooting of female students at a school in Canada.  

The day is a way of raising awareness of and making a stand against all forms of violence against women.   

The Bendigo walk begins at the Bendigo Town Hall at noon and members of the community who wish to take part are asked to meet at 11.45am.   

Businesses, community and school groups have made banners with anti-violence themes, which will be carried by those groups during the walk.   

A large, white, fibreglass elephant that symbolises "family violence, the elephant in the room" will also feature in the community walk.  

At the end of the walk the Kalianna Special Development School will be providing a barbecue lunch and a gold coin donation is requested. 

Keynote speakers include Anj Barker, who at 16 was brutally bashed to near death by a former boyfriend.  

Inspector Ron Gardner, a member of the police force for over 33 years, will talk about his experiences in policing family violence.   

I encourage people to participate in the walk and show that we, the community of Bendigo, are united in working together towards women not being the victims of violence.

CCTV an important tool

I would like to mention the importance of closed circuit television in assisting police in their investigations.  

CCTV systems can be used to enhance the safety of a business, organisation or home. 

CCTV footage can also provide valuable assistance to police when investigating crimes and prosecuting offenders.  

Good quality CCTV footage of an incident can help police in their investigation and may lead to an early arrest and a successful prosecution.

On a weekly basis, management of businesses with CCTV cameras should review the vision recorded from each camera to ensure the images are still being captured with the desired view and that they are in focus.  

CCTV systems should be regularly maintained and upgraded to improve the quality of the images.  

In addition, it would greatly assist police if businesses and organisations have a process in place that enables the immediate downloading of CCTV footage