By Cimara Pearce
VICTORIA Police rosters obtained under Freedom of Information have validated the cries of scared and angry Brimbank residents wanting more police on the municipality’s streets, according to the State Opposition.
According to the Opposition, police rosters showed that large numbers of police in the West were unavailable for duty, potentially leaving stations short-staffed.
The unveiling of the rosters came just days after Sunshine residents united at Sunshine train station calling for more police and safer streets.
The rosters suggested that 23 of the 58 staff at Keilor Downs Police Station were unavailable for duty during a fortnight in October last year.
The rosters also indicated that 48 per cent of staff at Caroline Springs were unavailable during the same period.
Rosters for Sunshine police were not available.
The community applauded the findings but Victoria Police Region 2 Commander Trevor Carter described the Opposition’s take on the rosters as inaccurate.
“The rosters given to the opposition only include general duties uniform members and are not an accurate reflection of a police division’s true operational capacity,” Commander Carter said.
“The rosters do not include detectives, Traffic Management Unit members, Regional Response Units, Family Violence response units or Crime Scene Officers. Nor do they include members seconded to specialised operational taskforces within the division.
“All of these members are operational and able to respond to incidents if required.
Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers’ Association (SunRRA) president Darlene Reilly said more and more community members were supporting them while there had been reports that two priests in Sunshine used sermons following the rally to encourage parishioners to support the call for more police.
Many politicians were invited to attend the rally including Derrimut MP Telmo Languiller, Keilor MP George Seitz, Maribyrnong MP Bill Shorten and Kororoit MP Marlene Kairouz. Of those, only Mr Seitz attended.
Star contacted Mr Languiller, Mr Shorten and Ms Kairouz to find out why the three politicians did not attend.
Mr Languiller said he understood community concerns but had been unable to attend the rally because of “prior commitments”.
A spokesman for Mr Shorten said he had been unable to attend the rally because of his government commitments but that how police were distributed its officers was a matter for the Police Commissioner.
“Mr Shorten will write to Commissioner Overland to pass on the concerns of residents and their desire for more police,” the spokesman said.
Star contacted Ms Kairouz’s office several times but phone calls were not returned before deadline.
relating to his role as the Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction.
“To say that one in two people are missing from rosters is completely inaccurate and misleading.”
“Local police officers are also supported in their work by police resources from across the organisation through specific operations,” he said.
relating to police numbers in Brimbank but did not believe there were shortages.
