Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) — (9981) My constituency question is to the Minister for Police. What information can the minister provide to Greenvale residents in my electorate who are concerned about crime in the area? Members of the Greenvale Residents Association (GRA) wrote to my office to express concern about recent crime levels, and I am sure the GRA and all Greenvale residents would be appreciative of an update from the minister with respect to this important issue. Members of the GRA were able to hear directly from Victoria Police at their regular meeting on 25 August. I thank the local police, who do an outstanding job, for taking the time to update residents right across Yuroke with respect to the local response to crime. I look forward to working with the minister and local residents to ensure that we continue to put community safety at the centre of everything we do.

Answer:

Every Victorian, whether in their home or business, has a right to feel safe. As you would expect, the Government works closely with the Chief Commissioner to ensure Victoria Police is appropriately resourced to tackle law and order issues facing the Victorian community.

Residents across the Yuroke area continue to receive a 24-hour police response. The local police response includes the Crime Investigation Unit and the Highway Patrol. The Hume Police Service Area’s current operations include an Offender Assessment Team investigating burglary and theft, as well as targeting volume crime offenders under a six month trial. A dedicated Crime Scene Services Unit operates across the area from Broadmeadows.

Additional police services include a Multicultural Liaison Officer, a Community Liaison Officer, a New and Emerging Community Liaison Officer (Unsworn), as well as the Family Violence Advisor.

The Detective Senior Sergeant from the Hume Criminal Investigation Unit recently attended the Greenvale Residents Association community forum.

The view of the Andrews Labor Government is that more police are needed on the frontline. That is why the Government has funded additional sworn police in both of the state budgets brought down by this Government. Funding frontline police are the hallmarks of State Labor Government.

The most recent state budget has provided for an additional 406 sworn police to be recruited and deployed to areas of need, including the growth corridors of Melbourne. The Government has since announced a further $26.2 million to expedite the deployment of the 406 new police. These additional police will now be sworn in by the end of June 2017, rather than June 2018, with the first of the new officers deployed in early 2017.

In addition, Police Custody Officers (PCOs) are being progressively rolled out across the state, freeing up sworn police officers for the frontline. To date, 228 PCOs have been deployed to 22 police stations across Victoria.

These PCOs are having a real impact on policing capability across the state and in the south-east corridor of Melbourne. PCOs have worked over 18,000 shifts across Victoria, freeing police from the work of looking after prisoners in police cells. That means more police on the frontline fighting crime and protecting the community.

Victoria’s frontline police officers will soon have state-of-the-art mobile technology to better respond to incidents of violent crime, public disorder, terrorist threats and the scourge of family violence.

In terms of high risk, high profile crime being committed by a small cohort of young offenders across Melbourne, Victoria Police has established a range of taskforces to tackle property crime, including Operation Cosmas, a city-wide operation, which is focusing on aggravated burglary and other forms of gang-related crime. Patrols are being conducted, both day and night, at high risk locations to prevent offences taking place. Operation Cosmas alone has been responsible for ov er 200 arrests since May of this year. Significant resources are being used to respond to and deal with the causes of this type of offending.

Furthermore, the Government has passed new laws for carjacking and home invasions. The laws reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and, as the community would expect, the penalties are significant.

These laws provide for a statutory minimum non-parole period of three years to apply to aggravated carjacking. This means that a court will have to impose a non-parole period of three years unless special reasons apply. Home invasion will have a maximum penalty of 25 years and aggravated home invasion will attract a statutory minimum non-parole period of three years.

I am assured by the Chief Commissioner that the level of policing is continuously monitored by respective command officers, with a view to ensuring community safety.

Any member of the Greenvale Residents Association who needs urgent police assistance should report the matter to Victoria Police through the emergency number ‘000′. Calls made to ‘000′ are processed and responded to by the nearest available police personnel.

The Hon Lisa Neville MP
Minister for Police