Victoria Police will be forced to scale back resourcing in some parts of the Wimmera over the busy Easter period as the Allan Labor Government’s mismanagement and underinvestment in our police force continues to hit.
It comes after a significant rise in farm thefts related to Labor’s fuel crisis and some stations in the region already having to reduce their hours and patrols due to workforce shortages.
The Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy, said in one area of her electorate there would normally be 12 officers providing 24-hour coverage, however this will be almost halved to seven officers for the next fortnight.
Concurrently, Labor is enacting Operation Harmony in Melbourne, a major reallocation of police resources that will see almost double the amount of police officers patrolling Melbourne’s CBD to combat surging levels of crime.
Ms Kealy said it was yet another example of country people missing out under Labor.
“Over the past few weeks alone, officers in our region have dealt with a murder and related siege in Horsham, a machete and knife attack in a Hamilton supermarket, and numerous incidents of fuel theft, along with rises in family violence incidents, assaults and increased retail thefts over the past 12 months,” she said.
“It’s imperative that our region has the police workforce to meet these increasing demands, but already this year we have instead seen stations having to reduce their hours and patrols because Labor has blown billions of dollars on corruption instead of investing in our police force and keeping our communities safe.
“Now our hardworking officers are being stretched even further, forced to cover vast distances with depleted numbers during a period where the region’s population swells.
“This puts enormous pressure on those police who are tasked with covering these areas, and also leaves massive gaps in community safety.
“It’s simply not good enough, and the Allan Labor Government needs to immediately get more police on the beat in rural and regional areas and back our police with the proper supports so they can do their jobs effectively, to ensure our communities are no less protected than their metropolitan counterparts.”