August 2009 - The Police Association Victoria

10
YARRA RANGES
COUNCIL
SUPPORTS
POLICE
Healesville Police Station.
Photography by gregnoakes.com
The Shire of Yarra Ranges has come out in support of the local police; demanding
the Police Station at Olinda be fully staffed and Healesville become a 24-hour station.
They are committed people, standing behind their dedicated police.
So incensed are they by what
they perceive is a lack of
support for their police, the
councillors have written to Chief
Commissioner Simon Overland
calling on him to provide the area
with “adequate police resources”.
In June the situation of police
resourcing in the shire was on
the council agenda. It took the
councillors just 17 minutes to
resolve this issue and vote on
the need to write to the Chief
Commissioner demanding
more resources.
The Police Association Journal must
point out that there are two serving
members on the Shire of Yarra
Ranges Council – Sergeant Terry
Avery from Lilydale and Sergeant
Richard Higgins from Mooroolbark.
Both these members excused
themselves from the council debate
sighting a conflict of interest
because they are members of the
Victoria Police Force. When The
Police Association Journal attended
a meeting with councillors at the
Shire offices in Lilydale Terry and
Richard did not attend.
The letter to the Chief
Commissioner pointed out that
the Shire of Yarra Ranges has a
population of 143,000 over almost
2,500 km² with in excess of two
million people visiting annually.
The letter says, “There is no doubt
that our local policemen and women
are doing an outstanding job. But they
are doing so under adverse conditions
with limited staffing numbers and a
desperate lack of resources.”
The councillors told the Mr
Overland of an incident in June
when the vans from Monbulk,
Lilydale and Mooroolbark were
sent to assist at an out of control
party outside the shire in Bayswater.
This left the entire Shire of Yarra
Ranges without any police on
patrol or an immediate response
capability. They say this is not an
uncommon situation.
The Police Association has been
told that members in the PSA are
shifted around to cover shortages
in some of the 16-hour stations.
This means that several of these
stations are left unattended for days
at a time.
“We’ve have members of the
public complain that they’ve been
trying to get to see us for three
days,” one member of the PSA said.
“They are always seeing stories on
the television and reading in the
newspapers about nuisance calls
wasting the time of 000 operators so
they are reluctant to use the phone.
They just keep popping by the police
station until they find us in.”
Councillor Jeanette McRae from
Healesville is adamant that the
local station in her ward should
be expanded to provide a 24-hour
service to the community. Local
PSA hierarchy say that won’t
happen because the CAD data
doesn’t show a need for a 24-hour
police presence.
“It is not about the crime or need
in the township itself,” says Jeanette.
“It is about providing a service to
that entire end of the shire. At the
August 2009 The Police Association Journal
www.tpav.org.au