Residents want Ballan police station open 24 hours a day, claiming a population surge means crime is starting to “rear its ugly head” in the town.
Ballan resident Jane (not her real name) said a neighbour recently had to call Ballarat police to find her teenage daughter after she left the house at 3am.
“It takes them at least half an hour to get here, and once they arrived she was already home,” she said.
“What a waste of resources. They’re not there when we need them, and we can’t afford to wait until it’s critical.”
It takes police 18 minutes to reach Ballan from Bacchus Marsh and 25 minutes from Ballarat. Residents say graffiti, vandalism and hoon behaviour are all on the rise.
According to a 2013 Moorabool council report, Ballan’s population is about 3500 and expected to reach 4090 by 2026.
Bacchus Marsh’s Inspector Brendon McCrory said it was clear that Moorabool was growing faster than other regions.
“At the moment, there’s numerous patches around the state that are competing for dwindling resources and police numbers.”
Residents of Caroline Springs, which according to the 2011 census has a population of 20,366, were recently told by a high-ranking official they will never have a police station staffed after dark.
Superintendent Glenn Weir said allocating staff to the station at night “would not be an efficient use of police resources”.
‘‘Our focus is on frontline services; we want our officers out on the roads,’’ he said. ‘‘People need to ring triple-0 if something happens at night, not the police station.”
Moorabool mayor Paul Tatchell said there was a need for more police across the shire. “I’ve had discussions and put in requests to stabilise police numbers in this area,” he said. “It’s fairly obvious there’s a shortage and our guys are heavily taxed in how far they have to travel. That’s part of the growth strategy moving forward – to keep police services in line with that growth.”
Ballarat East Labor MP Geoff Howard said he was keen to engage with residents.
“It’s a matter of talking about their experiences and with the local police, and if there are generally agreed gaps in service, I can pursue this with the Minister for Police and Emergency Services.”
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