Friday 18 November 2016
geelongindy.com.au
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Gobble up prizes Market Square Shopping Centre’s Felicity McMeekin and Geelong Coast magazine’s Elissa Friday visited Santa in the centre this week to promote the Indy’s Five Weeks of Christmas giveaways. Find out how to win $100 Market Square gift cards and tasty turkeys for Christmas on page 5 of today’s paper.
POLICE DATA: LOCAL NUMBERS DOWN
State cop boost misses Geelong By Luke Voogt
20 per cent increase in Geelong’s overall crime, including a 37 per cent rise in theft and burglary. Police Minister and Bellarine MP Lisa Neville promised Geelong would receive its share of 406 new frontline officers that the government funded this year. “These officers are being fasttracked through the Victoria Police
Academy, so they’re sworn in ahead of schedule and out in the community sooner,” she said. “Geelong will continue to receive additional resources as our new officers are recruited and trained.” But Ms Neville said Geelong police numbers were actually up on 2014. Continued page 7
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Police numbers have decreased in Geelong during the past year despite the Andrews government spruiking statewide increases, an Indy investigation has revealed. The paper this week obtained data showing that greater Geelong had 196.79 full-time-equivalent (FTE) po-
lice in September 2016, down from 198.32 at the same time in 2015. The Geelong figures contrast with a State Government announcement late last month of a 155 state-wide increase since June 2015. The decrease in Geelong police staffing coincided with a crime surge in the city during the past year. The 30 September Indy reported a
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