Melton could get at least 70 police officers in the next four years under a new staffing model that has identified the municipality’s police resources as being “stretched to the limit”.
The state government’s $2 billion boost to Victoria Police will provide relief to local police who have been pleading with the chief commissioner to allocate more resources to Melton and Caroline Springs.
The first officers could be deployed to the Melton police service area in the new year, with 406 police funded in the last budget graduating from the police academy in less than six months.
Speaking exclusively to Star Weekly, Police Association secretary Ron Iddles said Melton would be a big winner in the state government’s commitment to fund 2729 police in the next four years.
“As part of the 406 police, of which 300 will be frontline … I would see some police going to Melton immediately,” Mr Iddles said.
“And then you would see more over the next four years, as identified by the new staffing model.”
The staffing allocation model, developed by Victoria Police and the Police Association, calculated the number of extra police that are needed by factoring in population growth, the number of jobs police attend, the 29 different crime categories and the time it takes to investigate offences.
Mr Iddles said the model “quite clearly” showed Melton was understaffed. The association has previously called for an additional 81 police in the Melton police service area to keep pace with population growth.
“The immediate impact of extra police would be relief for our staff, a better service delivery model, calls for service would be answered quickly,” he said. “We will start to rebuild community confidence.”
The police boost couldn’t have happened without Melton and Caroline Springs residents spearheading a campaign for more officers, Mr Iddles said.
“No doubt the push for extra police started at Melton with the local press and that started to have an impact on the government,” he said.
“That eventually lead to the Caroline Springs rally, and to some extent I think that was a turning point. And I’ve got to give credit to Police Minister Lisa Neville … who went to Melton, Caroline Springs and Casey, and not long after acknowledged there was pressure on the frontline.”
