Thursday, 15 August 2019

In reply to  Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (6 June 2019)

Ms NEVILLE (Bellarine—Minister for Water, Minister for Police and Emergency Services):

Victoria Police take every crime seriously and are devoting significant resources to crime issues in and around the Geelong Mall.

Victoria Police has also increased patrols in the Mall to reassure the community and to improve community safety. This includes a number of operations to address anti-social behaviour, including:

• Operation City Safe is a visible police presence focussed on the Geelong Mall, using uniform police officers and the Mounted Branch. It has been operating since March 2018 and involves daily foot patrols and ongoing bicycle and highway patrols.

• Operation Safeguard Geelong is being launched to focus on crime, public order and licensing matters in the Geelong CBD, and will see a range of operations conducted at various times.

• Operation Spotter is a traffic operation with a police presence, visibility and enforcement of pedestrian and vehicle laws.

• Operation Plus is a traffic operation targeting drug and alcohol offences, involving Passive Alert Detection dogs and the Mounted Branch.

PSOs are also stationed at Geelong Train Station and travel on trains and patrol stations between Waurn Ponds and Lara. They also patrol the Moorabool Bus Exchange, which is adjacent to the Little Malop Street Mall.

Victoria Police and the City of Greater Geelong further have an ongoing partnership which involves the monitoring of City Safe CCTV cameras at the Geelong Police Station. This provides Victoria Police members the ability to identify persons wanted on warrants, identify offences being committed, and subsequently arrest offenders.

With the government’s record investment in 3,135 new police an additional 91 police officers have already been deployed or allocated to Geelong. This significant increase in police on the ground is allowing Victoria Police to carry out more proactive patrols and increase their presence in hotspots like the mall.

The government will continue to give Victoria Police the resources they need to keep the community safe and drive down offending.