Melton councillors are urging ratepayers to “raise their voices” and demand more police for Melton.
Mayor Kathy Majdlik said she would continue to heavily advocate for the cause but recommended residents also start a grassroots campaign aimed at Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.
Her call to arms came as Cr Bob Turner raised concerns that police numbers were not keeping up with population growth.
RELATED: MELTON POLICE NUMBERS AT CRISIS POINT
Cr Majdlik said campaigns were more successful when they had community support.
“We will write to the chief commissioner as a council, but the cause is always strengthened when we have masses of people raising their voices behind us,” she said.
“It looks different coming from community groups.”
Cr Majdlik said that while police numbers and deployment were a Victoria Police and state government issue, the effect of low numbers was “detrimental to our community”.
“Although council can’t fund the police, we can certainly advocate for it,” she said.
“When we did in the past [for Caroline Springs police station], they increased the hours of operation.
“We feel the numbers of police are paramount to our community for the perception of safety … and to keep crime stats lower.”
Coburn ward’s Cr Turner raised urgent business at last week’s council meeting, calling for Melton council to write to Mr Ashton asking how many officers were deployed at Melton and to “seek his support for extra police numbers in what is a rapidly growing municipality”.
Councillors Lara Carli, Nola Dunn, Myles Bentley and Kathy Majdlik all voted in favour of the motion. Councillors Renata Cugliari and Sophie Ramsey were absent. A letter is expected to be sent out soon.
Speaking to Star Weekly, Cr Turner said he wanted this issue raised with Mr Ashton “as quickly as possible” and for the council to advocate for extra resources.
“My concern is our community is growing so we need police numbers to keep up with the growth,” Cr Turner said.
“The challenge is that we’re not really getting the numbers to keep up with the growth.
“It’s not that [Melton] is unsafe … but we need to know what numbers are meant to be in Melton and what numbers we’ve got. Is there a discrepancy? When you read in newspapers about low police numbers, you have to wonder.”
Cr Turner also urged the community to put pressure on the chief commissioner.
“We need the community support,” he said. “Just like the Melton railway line, unless the community also backs it up, there’s little we can do by ourselves. With the growth we have here, we need increased numbers. And when we get the duplication of the railway line, our population is going to skyrocket.
“[Police numbers] are never going to get ahead, but we need to keep up with population growth.”
