By Victoria Stone-Meadows
THE Shadow Minister for Police, Community Safety and Corrections got out on the frontline with Cranbourne Police on the night of Thursday 29 September.
Edward O’Donohue spent the night with Acting Sergeant Ross Stewart of Cranbourne as he worked his night shift in the divisional van.
“I started at 10pm at finished at about 3.30am or 3.45am,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“I was really impressed by the professionalism and compassion and concern to act for the community’s interest.
“It is it obvious they are on the frontline and the people in the community look to them to fix things.”
Mr O’Donohue said the night out with the police gave him a better understanding of the nature of the job.
“Things can change dramatically as a result of a triple-zero phone call and resources can be diverted at the drop of a hat,” he said.
“To watch the police in action and the range of call-outs they have to respond to, from missing persons to late night parties to an aggravated burglary, to suspicious vehicles and people.
“The calls and requests were constant and never-ending.”
Acting Sergeant Ross Stewart said there was a lot for Mr O’Donohue to see on that night and the ride along was a good experience for everyone.
“We had quite a diverse night,” he said.
“We went to suspicious vehicles, noise complaints, an aggravated burglary, people being drunk – a pretty varied night.
“It was good he could see what we do and go through things from our perspective and also quite good in the way he could see the different things we go through and he was interested the whole night and asked a lot of questions.”
Sgt Stewart said it he would be happy to do something similar again.
“I am more than happy to show people what it is like so they get an understanding of what we do,” he said.
Mr O’Donohue said it was eye-opening to see how under-staffed and over-worked the police officers in the Casey are.
“There is an enormous police resourcing problem in the south-east,” he said.
“In my conversations with police units since the change of government, it’s clear more police are needed in the Casey and Cardinia regions in particular.
“Not just for community safety and the growing population but it is unrealistic to ask the first responders to work themselves to exhaustion.”
Current Minister for Police Lisa Neville, who has been on a tour of police stations in the south-east recently, said meeting with police on the frontline was an important part of her job.
“I intend to continue my visits and discussions with police personnel across the region and state,” she said.
“I have immense respect for the work being done by those in specialist teams who are arresting young offenders and patrolling known crime hotspots.
“As well as those officers who are in divvy vans responding to other crimes like family violence.”
Ms Neville said she had a great understanding of what police in the south-east were facing and said she was committed to delivering more boots on the ground.
“Since we came to government, police numbers have increased in the Casey and Cardinia regions and we believe more resources are needed in these growth communities,” she said.
“That’s why we have funded an additional 406 police, and the roll-out of 400 Police Custody Officers continues statewide.”
“The Chief Commissioner – who is responsible for staff allocation – has indicated that growth communities like Casey will be receiving additional police.”
The latest crime statistics show that overall criminal offences have increased by 18 per cent in Casey over a 12-month period between June 2015 and June 2016.
The largest jump in offences was seen in abduction and related crimes with a 70 per cent increase over 2015 from 27 offences up to 46 offences.
Other crimes that saw a jump in the number of offences in Casey were burglaries and breaking and entering offences, as well as theft by deception offences.
