More frontline police officers are on the beat in Northern Victoria as Swan Hill Police Station welcomes the deployment of its first custody officer.
It marks a major milestone in the Andrews Labor Government’s Police Custody Officer (PCO) rollout, with more than 200 custody officers now working across 22 of the state’s busiest police stations.
By introducing custody officers into police cells, thousands of hours’ worth of frontline police work has been saved, much of it in regional Victoria.
Since January, custody officers have worked more than 10,500 shifts across Victoria, performing custody management tasks in police cells and supervising police prisoners in court.
Swan Hill is the last of the 22 stations to receive custody officers. Additional officers also started work this week at Ballarat, Bendigo, Dandenong, Heidelberg, Moorabbin, Morwell, Ringwood, Shepparton and Sunshine police stations.
More custody officers will be deployed to Swan Hill and other stations in the coming months.
The Labor Government is delivering on its promise to give police the resources they need to fight crime and keep Victorians safe. The $148.6 million custody officer program has been fast-tracked, with all 400 officers to be deployed by the end of 2017.
Since coming to office, the Government has funded 1156 police personnel, including custody officers, frontline and specialist police, analysts and support staff.
Over the next 12 months, around 1000 police, PSOs and custody officers will be recruited and trained through the Victoria Police Academy.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Police Lisa Neville
“Custody officers are giving police in regional Victoria the support they need to get out of police stations and back into the community to respond to crime.”
“More than 200 custody officers are already working across 22 of Victoria’s busiest police stations, with more officers to be deployed in the coming months.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Northern Victoria Steve Herbert
“The deployment of the first custody officer to Swan Hill is a major step forward to bolstering frontline policing in the region.”
“They’ll help to free up police officers so they can do what they were trained to; investigate crime and patrol our streets to keep Victorians safe.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020