Push for nearly 100 more police

By Melissa Meehan
POLICE numbers in Greater Dandenong and Casey fall severely short, the Police Association says.
The call for extra staff coincides with the launch of the association’s Save our Streets campaign.
Greater Dandenong needs an extra 96 police officers, and Casey needs another 126, the association says, based on figures from the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (May 2008).
The association wants the Victorian Government to fund the recruitment of 3000 extra police officers state-wide.
The campaign includes a petition with 70,000 signatures, the largest number for any official petition to Parliament, Police Association secretary designate, Senior Sergeant Greg Davies says.
“The campaign will give the public a chance to directly become involved in putting more police on the streets.”
Victorian Government spokesman Michael Sinclair said Greater Dandenong had experienced a 25 per cent increase in frontline police and a 28.2 per cent reduction in overall crime since 2000/01.
“In the same time population has grown by 31.9 per cent in Casey and frontline police in that area have increased by 80 per cent,” Mr Sinclair said.
“At the last election we committed to provide 350 new police officers over this term; 100 of those have already been delivered.”
Mr Sinclair said the placement of recruits was a matter for police command, and decisions would be based on where they were most needed.
“It should not be subject to political interference,” Mr Sinclair said.
“We now have more police in police stations and out on the street serving the community than ever before.”
Opposition spokesman Andrew McIntosh said yesterday that police in Region 5, which includes both Greater Dandenong and Casey, will now lose more officers to protect Melbourne’s CBD on the weekend.
He said according to data obtained by the Victorian Liberal Nationsal Coalition under Freedom of Information, Region 5 will lose a senior sergeant, four sergeants and 16 constables every weekend.