The council will invite "key agencies" such as police to join the group to "share information and initiate collaborative approaches to address crime and safety issues".

At Monday night's meeting, Cr Tim Koschel asked for clear lines of responsibility to be established to avoid public confusion over which level of government was responsible for policing.

"One thing that we definitely do need to come back from this report is the role that council plays in crime prevention," he said.

"More and more over the past few months there have been multiple phone calls every week with residents concerned about crime.

"Where the residents are at the moment is not knowing where crime falls in the levels of government."

Ron Kearney gave a deposition to councillors during the meeting on the need for action on crime, such as "fires and drugs" which he said was "so out of hand it’s not funny".

"Take, for instance, Ashmont; I have driven around there and what I can find is 16 houses that are burnt out," he said.

"You can look at the public housing areas around Wagga and all of them have got houses that are burnt or badly damaged.

"What is the Housing Commission doing about this? It's not a good image for Wagga."

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Mr Kearney referenced former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who made crime prevention a key part of his first term in 1994 with a zero tolerance approach, even on less serious offences.

He also pointed to the northern NSW town of Moree, which brought in Mobile Neighbourhood Watch patrols in response to a spike in graffiti and property crime.

"The ball is in your court, mayor," Mr Kearney said.

"Let's do something about it. Let's call a public meeting. Let's stand up and be counted."

Mayor Greg Conkey told Mr Kearney that the council had been trying to arrange a meeting with the NSW Police Deputy Commissioner in Sydney.

"That's going to happen in the next two weeks, hopefully," he said.

"I have regular contact with police and we had a community forum with the police last Tuesday where a lot of your issues were raised.

"I will take your comments on board."

Cr Paul Funnell said New York City was responsible for its police and Wagga council was not, but it did have to face the issue along with the whole of society.

Cr Dan Hayes said the group would have to tackle Wagga's highly prevalent but much less visible crime of domestic violence.

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