EXCLUSIVE
Senior Victoria Police officials were warned almost a decade ago that more police would be needed to deal with Melton’s booming population.
But police numbers have barely changed since a 2008 report by a Melton police project group which called for a drastic increase in police resources by 2017.
The project group was headed by Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Cassidy, then based in Melton, who urged then chief commissioner Christine Nixon to allocate extra staff and resources through a “staged implementation” by 2017.
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“The current resources are not sufficient to provide an effective and efficient 24-hour police service to Melton’s community,” the report stated.
“[An] increase in police resources is necessary to reduce likely increases in crime, family violence and road trauma and to provide an effective, efficient and fair police service to the Shire of Melton.”
In 2008, Melton’s uniform branch had two senior sergeants, eight sergeants and 46 senior constables/constables.
The project group asked for an extra four sergeants and 10 senior constables/constables.
There is now one senior sergeant along with 10 sergeants and 43 senior constables/constables, despite a 30 per cent population rise.
Mr Cassidy, who has since retired, said he found the current low police numbers “extremely disappointing”.
“We were under-staffed at the time and I think it’s disgraceful it hasn’t increased in line with population growth,” he said.
The 2008 report stated that youth resources officers had made a “marked impact on youth crime in Melton”, with a 2.44 per cent fall in young offenders in the year to June, 2007, despite a 25 per cent increase in young people living in the area.
There were two senior constables managing the youth resources team, and the project group called for one sergeant and an extra senior constable to join it. Currently, there are no youth resources officers in Melton.
When Star Weekly asked Victoria Police why these officers had been pulled from Melton, spokeswoman Danielle Fleeton said: “Youth resource officers are divisionally based and are currently located at the Caroline Springs police station. They service the entire Melton community.”
Ms Fleeton denied Victoria Police had ignored the report’s recommendations.
“We continually review our service delivery against community needs, population growth, crime trends and data.”
She said that since 2008, a number of police units had been established, including a family violence unit in Caroline Springs, a vehicle crime and burglary team, and a crime desk in Melton.
