It all started in May with a public cry for help … we need more police or the consequences will be severe, Melton sergeants said.
“It’s only a matter of time before police or a member of the public is seriously injured or killed.”
A domestic violence call-out? No units to attend. Suspicious loiterers? No units to attend.
Urgent jobs? No units to attend.
Dozens of officers added their voices, pleading with the chief commissioner to commit to more resources.
Sergeants and senior sergeants said they had never put so many jobs on hold as they did in Melton because of a lack of resources.
On and on it went … police raised issues about overtime, mental health, the ice epidemic and mammoth workloads … and they all wanted the chief commissioner to listen, to hear and concede the thin blue line was over-stretched.
In May, Victoria Police responded to Star Weekly’s questions, saying it “continually” monitored crime statistics and trends to identify areas most in need of additional resources.
There was no guarantee Melton would get an extra 76 police officers – identified by the Police Association – to keep pace with population growth. But as the months went on and Melton residents started recognising the pressure their police were under, Victoria Police and the state government started listening.
How could they not? Aggravated burglaries and carjackings were on the rise, the community was urging authorities take law and order seriously, and, perhaps the most pivotal – a public rally called for extra police.
Hundreds rallied at Caroline Springs in August, including politicians and victims of crime. Residents stopped asking … they now demanded extra police – immediately.
Unsurprisingly, Liberal upper house MP Bernie Finn and Police Association secretary Ron Iddles were loud and clear also: “We need the police to protect us. That must be the government’s first priority.”
But others went into damage control … Labor MP Cesar Melhem urged residents to “maintain your rage, maintain your pressure, maintain your activism” at the same time the state government was still touting the “we funded 400 police in this year’s budget” line.
Mr Melhem conceded governments had not kept up with population growth. And Victoria Police commander Russell Barrett said the west’s growth had “outstripped” the service police could provide.
Communities across the state also started to listen – Wyndham, Geelong, Endeavour Hills, Casey – all demanding extra police. The state government and Victoria Police couldn’t shy away from the law and order issue gripping Victoria. They started listening and, a month after the rallies, conceded things weren’t right.
An Eyewatch Facebook page was opened, funding for mobile apps and new technologies were announced, extra police custody officers were funded … but the outcry didn’t stop.
The Police Association said the state needed 3300 police over six years. The next day, the state government announced it would fast-track by a year the deployment of 400 officers.
Still not satisfied, the community said 400 extra police for an organisation already desperately in need wasn’t enough … Melton, Wyndham and Brimbank, alone, needed 220 extra frontline forces.
And then came this month’s big news – a record $2 billion boost to police numbers, 2729 police over the next four years, more than 2000 for frontline duties.
This is the largest recruitment drive in the state’s history – and it’s partly thanks to the noise Melton residents made. If it were not for local activism, Melton might’ve been overlooked, again, just when new police graduates were being deployed.
