Connecting people & communities CRANBOURNE Thursday, 1 September, 2016
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Cops in ‘crisis’ By Georgia Westgarth POLICING in the City of Casey is bleeding from the inside, according to the Police Association of Victoria which has labelled the situation a “crisis”. The Victoria Police union has launched a tag line: ‘There aren’t enough police in the SouthEast’, as the region’s police cells overflow with prisoners. The Police Association of Victoria secretary Ron Iddles shared the grave concerns of uniform members. “They are telling us that they are at breaking point, such is the burden they are forced to endure due to under-resourcing,” Mr Iddles said. “Members are highly stressed and morale is extremely low. “The longer this situation continues, more police will continue to fall over.” The “crisis” claim by the police union comes as the Endeavour Hills police station closes its front counter on weekend nights, in a four-month trial. During times when the station’s counter is closed, phone calls will be diverted to Narre Warren police station’s 24-hour counter service. The station will be closed to the public at 5pm rather than 11pm on weekends, but police patrols on those nights will be
increased. Police say a review found low numbers of public attendance and phone calls to the station, particularly on weekends. Inspector Donald Brown said the trial would “maximise the amount of time police are out on patrol and responding to crime”. “We believe that this view is shared by most people in the community,” Insp Brown said. But police officers have divulged information about the steady stream of people attending Narre Warren, Cranbourne and Endeavour Hills stations to union officials. Mr Iddles said that it was not uncommon to have up to 10 people per hour attend one of the three Casey stations, requiring police attention during busy periods. “While it is true there are fewer inquiries on a weekend, this does not mean that the ones received during this period are any less important or deserved of an immediate police response,” Mr Iddles said. “Only recently in response to a spate of carjackings, Victoria Police encouraged people who believed that they were followed to drive to their local police station. “Imagine just how they would feel to find the doors bolted shut at Endeavour Hills
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when they got there.” On social media, the Police Association of Victoria wrote: “Police numbers are so low that our members can barely keep their stations open, let alone respond to triple-zero calls.“ Opposition police spokesman Edward O’Donohue echoed the association’s position. “The Casey community is living in fear with carjackings, home invasions and gang violence becoming all too common. Daniel Andrews needs to get his priorities right and bring this crisis under control.“ Despite Casey’s crime rate soaring by 19 per cent in the past year, Mr O’Donohue said there were two fewer full-time equivalent police positions in the service area since November 2014. Police spokesperson Ben Radisich said Victoria Police provided a 24-hour response to the Casey community and that the State Government had recently announced an additional 300 frontline police members. “The Chief Commissioner has acknowledged the growth corridors are a priority of which Casey is one. The additional police will be deployed to respond to local crime issues. “We expect these police numbers to start appearing in stations from early 2017.”
Young directors
FROM The Jungle Book to Frozen and Alice In Wonderland, Tooradin Primary School students are mining a rich vein of children’s cinema in their annual school concert, The Movie Producer. Marnee, Ruby and Brilee are among those who will tread the boards in front of family and friends on 2 September. More pictures and full story page 10. Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS
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