Call for more

By Kelly Yates
CASEY needs more police.
That is the message coming from The Police Association Victoria after the news that the Casey Traffic Management Unit (TMU) has been operating with the same staffing levels for more than a decade despite continued population growth in the area.
The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) ranked the City of Casey second in the state last year for both road fatalities and serious injury.
The association’s secretary Greg Davies said it was appalling that police numbers in the area had not been brought into line with the rapid population growth of the municipality.
Mr Davies said tragically, fatal road accidents continued to claim lives on Casey roads.
“Road policing is a vital function of the force and it cannot be done properly without sufficient numbers of police,” he said.
“The only answer to this problem is to assign more members to the Casey area.”
Casey Traffic Management Unit (TMU) Sergeant Pat McGavigan told the News the unit was staffed by one Sergeant and 11 Leading Senior Constables.
“Police across the state are always looking for more resources but operate to the best of their ability with the resources they have and the Casey TMU is no exception,” Sgt McGavigan said.
“The members at the Casey TMU have obtained some outstanding results in road trauma reduction which I am proud of.”
According to Sgt McGavigan, the Casey TMU was currently conducting interviews to recruit an additional police member.