Be like Aretha
WHILE it is pleasing to see that the Geelong, Bellarine, Surf Coast and Colac/Otway areas have seen a reduction in reported crime in recent months, local police are preparing for the upcoming warmer weather, holiday period and subsequent annual influx of holiday makers.
Generally the summer months are a time to relax and enjoy some fun with friends and family but this is not always the case for some.
Traditionally, and sadly, police see a rise in anti-social behaviour over summer. Such behaviour manifests itself in a range of offending including criminal damage, family violence, assaults, public drunkenness, riotous behaviour, thefts, burglaries and traffic offences.
A common theme for some of these crime categories, especially those involving anti-social behaviour, is alcohol.
This most recent weekend was a case in point — there were a number of assaults and affrays that occurred in and around licensed premises and in residential areas.
Some were alcohol driven, others not, but the end is always that some people have been seriously injured because someone thinks violence is the answer and the way to resolve issues.
Violence is never the solution; in fact it is the problem.
We all have a right to enjoy ourselves and have fun, but we don’t have a right to impact others through our behaviour.
Too often police see people who consume excessive amounts of alcohol in public places which, on occasion, leads to anti-social behaviour and assaults a arising from disputes with others.
We have all heard of recent incidents in which a drunken fight has led to someone suffering serious and debilitating injuries or maybe even death by so-called “one punch” assaults. .
I call upon everyone veryone to use common sense and think about the impact of their actions. ions.
We all feel sick in the stomach when we read or hear of the injuries and loss suffered by some victims of crime but the intensity of those feelings and true understanding of the ramifications of violence are sometimes ometimes not truly felt until it touches us personally.
Police will be taking a strong and swift approach to those who drink to excess in both public places and licensed ensed premises and then choose to behave ve violently or in a threatening manner towards others.
This focus will ill also increase over the e summer period on ensuring suring licensed premises ses play their role in accordance ccordance with their legislated slated responsibilities around round not serving people e alcohol when they have ve clearly consumed enough. ugh.
We will have plain clothes and uniformed police regularly visiting our known hotspots to enforce this legislation.
This is not solely a police problem — it is a shared responsibility with licensees and members of the community.
If you have ave a relative e at ve o or friend ed who is known to behave in an anti
social way in this regard I challenge you to have the conversation with them about their behaviour. It is not an easy thing to do, but it could save injuries, a life or a court appearance and will definitely make our community better. It is my view that many of our soc societal eta ills s ca can be reduced through one simple behaviour — RESPECT. We all nee need to consider others and respect their property, personal beliefs beliefs, opinions, and be mindful of beh behaviour toward and in the presence o of others. We need to respect our community and it its people — men and women. Most of al all, we need to respect ourselves. I If we focus on our own self-respec self-respect, respect will be returned in spades. We a all make conscious decisions around a great many things things, one of which is how we be behave. P Please do your bit to kee keep our great community safe by ensuring your act actions do not impact neg negatively upon others. A Acting with respect will ensure we build and enjo enjoy a respectful communi munity. In the words of Aretha Frank Franklin — “All I’m asking for is a little respect”. We all have a choice — choose RESPECT. SPECT Craig GilGillard is Victoria Police Superintendent Superint Divisional Commander Comman for Division 1 Western RRegion