By BRIDGET COOK
CASEY has a new top cop who has tackling family violence, youth related problems and volume crime in his sight.
Paul Breen has been appointed as Casey’s new police Inspector, taking over the role from Wayne Viney this month.
A member of the force since 1987, Insp Breen said he was exctited to take over the new role and looked forward to the challenge.
Insp Breen has worked in a range of different roles since joining Victoria Police including detective duties, specialist units, instructor at the Academy and as an Inspector at Professional Standards.
He was recently the Local Area Commander at Port Phillip area, before moving over to Casey on 5 May.
Insp Breen said through a collaborative approach across all sections of the community, he hoped they could reduce the incidence of family violence, address youth-related crime and have a strong impact on preventing volume crime.
“Our main areas of concern centre around volume crime, specifically theft of and theft from motor vehicles, burglaries and of course we will have a very strong focus on family violence,” he said.
“In my view, the key to success is ensuring you have preventative measures in place. It’s just not enough to be reactive, we must employ proactive measures.
“Having said that, and let me be very clear, crime, family violence, public disorder, road trauma, hoons, ethnic and cultural tensions are not just a police issue.
“These concerns are an ‘all of community’ issue, so we must work together as a community.
“We’re in this together.”
Mr Breen said the issues in Casey would differ in a way from Port Phillip, but he was looking forward to the new challenge.
“I really loved working at Port Phillip, it was vibrant, edgy and had an interesting mix of social issues, a far smaller area in size and population,” he said.
“Port Phillip also had a very large entertainment precinct which brings many social issues to the fore including drug use, alcohol and public disorder.
“Casey however, is so much bigger in size and population and continues to have very strong population growth, particularly youth, so as police we really have our work cut out in trying to stabilise and reduce volume crime and many of the youth social issues – bullying, mental health, suicide and family violence.”
Insp Breen urged the community to support the police in any way they could.
“The police need community support and assistance, so I ask the community to not stand quiet in the face of family violence, criminality, hoon driving and drug use,” he said.
“Contact your police, provide them with information which may assist in achieving the communities overall aim – to live in a safe, respectful, tolerant and vibrant community.”
