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The South East is set to receive one of the largest allocations of extra police officers in Melbourne over the next 12 months.
Victoria Police announced an extra 38 officers in Casey, Cardinia and Greater Dandenong as part of 396 across Victoria.
It was just behind the state’s biggest deployment of 44 in Melbourne’s Westgate division in the West and North West.
Greater Dandenong will receive nine more officers, Cardinia six and Casey five.
Ten extra highway patrol members and five more crime scene services officers will be shared across the South East.
The new recruits are training at the Police Academy and will be deployed from October.
The latest deployment is the final stage of 2729 new officers funded by the State Government since 2018
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said it was a “milestone for the biggest recruitment drive in Victoria Police’s history”.
“In particular, this allocation will see 15 more police going to our Professional Standards Command.
“Of those, 11 officers will be responsible for developing a specialised unit dedicated to investigating family violence committed by Victoria Police employees.
“Some of these resources will also be there to support our complainants and victims.”
Six police would be sent to a new division to tackle cyber crime, Chief Comm Patton said.
“Technology-enabled crime has rapidly become one of the greatest threats to community safety.”
Victoria Police’s specialist commands, such as Transit and Public Safety and Intelligence and Covert Support Command, will receive 167 police.
A Staff Allocation Model was used to deploy frontline and specialist police in areas of “greatest need”, Chief Comm Patton said.
It allowed Victoria Police to send “more police out on patrol, responding where and when needed in the community, and in dedicated areas such as family violence, transit safety, highway patrol, and sexual offences and child abuse teams”.
