By Ann Marie Angebrandt
HOBSONS Bay residents can have their say later this month about proposed changes to the Williamstown police station.
Management are considering closing the watch house of the station between 11pm and 7am but maintaining emergency call-outs and divisional van patrols.
A community discussion about the plan will be held at the Williamstown RSL on Ferguson St, at 7.30pm on Tuesday 26 June.
Regional Superintendent Tim Cartwright will chair the meeting and all views would be taken into consideration before a final decision is made.
Supt said senior police had already met Hobson’s Bay City Council to discuss the proposal and both the Williamstown Police and the Police Association were involved.
The proposal follows a recent service review of the station that found over the past two years, fewer than one person a night on average visited or phoned the Williamstown station.
Supt Cartwright said the research suggested the police could provide the West with a better police service by making changes.
“As part of the normal management practice, we are looking at ways of making better use of the staff that we have available. In this case, we think that we can do a lot more for the community by reallocating the police officers needed to keep the counter open every night to other policing priorities.”
If the proposal goes ahead, overnight phone calls made to the Williamstown station would be diverted to the 24-hour Altona North station.
