Officers stretched: MP
MORE police are urgently needed in the Geelong region to deal with the summer increases in tourists, traffic and crime, a local MP warns.
Western Victoria Liberal MP Simon Ramsay said Police Minister Lisa Neville needed to act quickly to bring more police to the region.
But Ms Neville hit back, saying Mr Ramsay could not be trusted with statistics and facts.
Mr Ramsay said Geelong’s allocation of 15 new police this year was not enough, particularly for the summer tourism onslaught.
“Already crime in Geelong has jumped enormously under the Andrews Government with Lisa Neville holding the police reigns,” he said.
“The police are clearly stretched with the increasing daily workload — let alone the extra demands that summer brings to the region.”
Greater Geelong’s crime rate in the year ending September 2014 was 6432 per 100,000 people. Daniel Andrews was elected premier in December 2014. In the year to September 2017, Greater Geelong’s crime was 7222 per 100,000 people, a rise of about 12 per cent over the three years.
“The minister needs to activate the police resources right now, not in February, to respond to the historical increase in criminal activity, exacerbated in the holiday period,” Mr Ramsay said.
But Ms Neville said local communities remembered the contribution the Coalition state government made from 2010-14 — “four consecutive years of crime increases, and police station closures across the Bellarine”.
She said local police command was well prepared to keep the community and visitors safe over summer and could call on centralised police resources if required.