Melbourne CBD to get more barricades

POPULAR key sites across the Melbourne CBD will be bolstered in a bid to thwart future terror attacks.

Work will be carried out at nine locations including Bourke St Mall, Federation Square, Southbank Promenade and Queen Victoria Market.

It comes as Victoria Police plans to adopt a New York Police Department “Shield” program — sharing confidential intelligence reports with the private sector — in a bid to combat terror plots.

The Shield program, formed in the wake of 11 September 2001 terror attacks, opens up lines of communication between police and security officials from office buildings to sport stadiums.

The intelligence reports, which were launched two years ago, assess an event and detail threats, risks and potential problems such as choke points for the public.

Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther, head of Victoria Police’s Counter Terror Command, yesterday hosted an executive forum between police and business leaders about terrorism.

About 15 organisations attended the forum, including the AFL, Crown, Arts Centre Victoria, City of Melbourne, Public Transport Victoria, Westfield shopping centre, Queen Victoria Market and a number of the city’s hotels and universities.

The forum was held four days after Hassan Khalif Shire Ali carried out his deadly attack in Bourke St and on the day James “Dimitrious” Gargasoulas was found guilty of killing six people and injuring 27 others in last year’s Bourke St rampage.

Other sites to be upgraded under the $41 million plan are Olympic Boulevard, State Library of Victoria and Southern Cross Station.

The CBD has 30 CCTV cameras and a further 30 cameras will be installed.