From next month, local communities will begin to see the first 300 frontline police officers on their streets. These are the first of the 3,135 police the Andrews Labor Government is delivering over five years to make communities safer and drive down crime.
Member for Dandenong, Gabrielle Williams, today welcomed the announcement by Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Police Lisa Neville and Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton that the south-east will be receiving an allocation of Victoria’s 300 new frontline police funded in the 2016-17 Victorian Budget.
50 new police officers will be deployed in the south-eastern suburbs including the Casey and Dandenong areas.
More specifically, the Casey and Greater Dandenong Police Service Areas will receive 31 and 10 new police officers respectively. An additional nine frontline division-wide police officers have also been allocated to increase police capacity to respond across the two Police Service Areas.
The boost of 300 new police officers, which are on top of regular attrition recruiting, will give a stronger and more visible police presence on the street, staff more proactive patrols, and deliver more resources to stop crime from happening in the first place.
These additional 300 police officers also builds on the 106 new police already allocated to deal with gang related crime and public order issues, as well as increasing special response and monitoring capability.
Since coming into government, more than 700 full time police positions have been allocated across the force.
The allocation of frontline police officers was according to a new Staff Allocation Model, which takes the politics out of the distribution of police resources, with Victoria Police identifying the areas that have the greatest need.
This new approach to police recruitment also ends the historic ‘boom and bust’ cycle of investment in police resources that has seen police numbers previously fluctuate according to changing priorities, rather than ensuring sustainable growth over time.
Another 2,729 new police will be recruited and trained over the next four years as part of the government’s Community Safety Statement, released in December 2016.
The Labor Government’s historic investment to drive down crime across Victoria includes new vehicles for the Public Order Response Team, new booze buses, and tough new laws to crack down on drug dealers, drive by shootings, car jackings and home invasions.