By XAVIER SMERDON
HOBSONS Bay has the best ratio of residents to police officers in West, according to figures obtained by the office of the Shadow Minister for Police, James Merlino, last week.
Hobsons Bay had one police officer per 723 residents – the highest number of police per population than any other municipality in the West
By contrast, Wyndham had the lowest number of police officers per population than any other western suburbs municipality with just 121 police officers, as of 29 February this year
The latest census data shows that on 9 August 2011, Wyndham’s population had reached 161,575 people. This shows that there were 1335 residents for every police officer in Wyndham.
Melton had the second smallest police-to-residents ratio with 1021 residents for every officer.
Brimbank and Maribyrnong had 942 and 754 residents per officer respectively.
Mr Merlino said Wyndham’s population boom had outpaced the number of police being allocated to the area.
“Mr Baillieu in Opposition talked a lot about the need to put police where they were needed,” Mr Merlino said.
“But these figures show police numbers are not keeping up with population growth in some areas.”
Mayor Kim McAliney told Star it was worrying to see the Wyndham ranked poorly in the area of police numbers.
“We have real concerns to hear those figures,” Cr McAliney told Star.
“We need to have our fair share. You can’t keep growing and not have the resources.
“It’s just not acceptable and we lose out all the time in every area.”
Police Minister Peter Ryan said all regions across Victoria, including Wyndham had received more frontline police since the Baillieu Government took office.
“The Chief Commissioner of Police has operational responsibility over the deployment of police, with decisions based on factors such as demand and crime levels,” Mr Ryan said.
“It is therefore a matter for Divisional Commanders how they deploy police numbers allocated to them in their respective regions.
“James Merlino, as a former Police Minister, knows this and it is both irresponsible and disrespectful of serving Victoria Police members and Police Command in particular, to suggest otherwise.”
Cr McAliney congratulated Wyndham’s Inspector Cindy Millen for bringing several high visibility operations to Wyndham which have swarmed the municipality with police, but she said more permanent officers were needed.
