- Minister for Police and Emergency Services
The Andrews Labor Government is delivering more police to major regional centres and Melbourne’s growing outer suburbs – as well as more family violence officers than ever before – with another 709 officers due to hit the beat over the next year.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services Lisa Neville today joined Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent to announce the 2019-20 police allocation, which includes an additional 207 family violence officers.
Ms Neville will officially open the Centre of Learning for Family Violence today, an $11.5 million purpose-built training facility that will help ensure more police officers are better trained and more effective in responding to family violence.
Family violence takes up an enormous amount of police time, with officers attending a family violence incident every seven minutes across the state. In 2018, more than 18 per cent of all recorded offences were related to family violence, compared to less than 5 per cent 10 years ago.
300 general duties officers will also be added to boost Victoria Police’s ranks, with a focus on regional areas such as Mildura, Swan Hill, Bairnsdale, Sale, Greater Geelong, the Surf Coast, Ballarat and Morwell. The areas of Casey, Greater Dandenong, Hume and Melton will also receive new general duties police.
Specialist police are also being boosted with 93 new officers to strengthen transit and public safety, intelligence and covert support, state emergency and support commands, and legal services.
An extra 105 police will be allocated to the frontline to support parental leave, while 25 PSOs will be rolled out to support safety across the transport network and at key events.
The Labor Government’s $2 billion investment and roll out of new police is the single biggest uplift to Victoria Police in its history and has seen 1950 more police officers working across the state since 2014. The 709 new police will be progressively deployed to communities from May 2019 to April 2020.
The resourcing boost is part of Labor’s record community safety investment that is giving police the resources, powers and laws it needs to keep Victoria safe. This investment is already making a difference with the latest independent crime statistics showing Victoria’s crime rate has fallen for the seventh quarter in a row.
As stated by Minister for Police and Emergency Services Lisa Neville
“We’re investing in Victoria Police by delivering more police to more communities than ever before to ensure our hardworking officers have the equipment, the tools and the training they need to keep the state safe.”
“We’re seeing a relentless focus by police on crime and community safety, with record numbers of arrests, a decreasing crime rate and stronger community policing – but there’s still more to do.”
“Family violence is Victoria’s number one law and order issue – which is why we’re training even more officers with the skills they need to respond to family violence.”
