More cops to enter fray
10 to start as part of statewide roll out of 300
GREATER Geelong will get an injection of 10 new police as part of the state’s latest roll out of new officers.
A further 80 are expected to trickle into the region over the next two years as well, based on the force’s new projection modelling.
Part of a statewide 300 allocation to frontline services, Geelong Superintendent Craig Gillard said yesterday the new men and women would be put to work very quickly once they arrived.
Geelong was the only area in the Western Region to receive a boost, he said.
“We’re really pleased that we’ll be receiving more additional police numbers. It’s a tremendous sign of support from both our organisation and government,” he told the Geelong Advertiser.
“We will be able to do a lot more work for our community with those types of numbers, it’s very pleasing.”
Victoria Police said the 300 police members, announced in the 2016-17 Victorian Budget, would be deployed to areas which had experienced high demand for police services, including busy growth corridors.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said Victoria Police developed the staff allocation model last year to ensure the extra police would be deployed to the areas of highest need.
“At Victoria Police we are absolutely focused on building a strong, more capable, agile and responsive police force,” he said.
He said while the extra police would strengthen local police responses, it was im- portant to stress this was just the start.
“We have 2729 more police yet to be allocated across the state, plus 100 Protective Services Officers,” he said.
Police minister Lisa Neville said it was just the start of a larger roll out to come.
“The roll out of 300 new police is just the start of the biggest boost of police resources in the state’s history,” Ms Neville said. “There will be a total of 3135 additional police to hit the beat over the next five years as part of our record investment in the police force.”
Police Association Secretary, Sergeant Wayne Gatt said this deployment would have a positive impact on the ability of police to prevent and reduce crime.
CCP Ashton said Victorians would start to see the additional police members in their communities from next month.