‘Police recruits used to be chosen on height and physical prowess – seen these days as discriminatory’

In the good old days Victoria’s police force was more independent, recruits chosen for strength and roughing up of crooks tolerated.

Police at Melbourne’s Russell St police headquarters in the 1970s, when the force was more independent of government.

Forty years-ago, Victoria had a police force with about 7500 members and under the Liberal government of the time was starved of funds

So tight was the budget for the force that it had run out of bullets and had to cancel target practice for members and recruits.

Legendary Commissioner Mick Miller was in charge and the Premier was Dick Hamer.

Miller made no secret that he was battling Spring St for more money.

He had asked the government for an extra 292 patrol cars and instead was given just 30 and they were all four-cylinder sedans. The security firm Mayne Nickless routinely lent the armed robbery squad walkie-talkies and there were 48 police stations in the state with single man operations.

At those one man police stations, officers were forced to use their own private cars to get to jobs. Back then the chief detective was Chief Superintendent Phil Bennett, known as “Fat Harry.”

In those years 1979-81 I worked in the Russell St police headquarters building for the then afternoon daily The Melbourne Herald. It was common for Chief Superintendent Bennett to alert the press room to an armed holdup on a bank.

Police Commissioner Mick Miller on the job in 1985.

A reporter tries the breathalyser at Russell St in 1961.

He would even, on occasion, offer one of us working there a lift to the scene of the crime in his unmarked patrol car. Phil was a genius at getting publicity for his troops and ahead of his time in realising that having the media on-side helped when negotiating with government.

On a slow news day, he would even dig out an old cold case and give you a fresh line for a front page to keep his name in the paper.

Those were the blessed days before Victoria Police decided it needed a media unit to handle inquiries and when reporters like me made contacts by drinking lots of beer in the Police Club with detectives most nights.

In those days, the police were fiercely independent of government and not concerned with the social niceties of a particular brand of politics.

Police recruits were chosen on their height and physical prowess back then – seen these days as discriminatory

Both uniformed and plain clothed police were hard and tough on criminals and celebrated when they locked up a crook.

Yes, there was a level of tolerated violence to gain a confession and I remember well the tiny padded, rooms next to the homicide squad’s office.

Armed holdups, vicious murders, domestic violence, rapes and street crime was the priority.

Compare that cash strapped non-politically correct Victorian police force with what we have today. Let me be clear, this is nota criticism of the majority of serving police in the city, suburbs and regions.

Police confront a maskless anti-lockdown protester in September 2020. Photo: Getty

These men and women have an incredibly tough, low-paid and dangerous job protecting us all with a recent example of that a violent attack in St Kilda.

A video shows two police surrounded by six people with one of the officers 'rag dolled' with his head repeatedly smashed into the roadway. Charges have been laid and we will follow that through the courts.

This is though, an observation that the Victoria Police at the very top level has been politicised - probably starting back with then Police Commissioner Christine Nixon, who was imported from NSW. We all remember her failures during Black Saturday.

State government spending on police since has exploded with the annual costs around $4bn a year, now outstripping what the state spends on education or health according to a parliamentary inquiry into the state’s criminal justice system.

Police numbers have now hit 22,000, making Victoria the most policed state in Australia. There are 16,098 sworn police and 3375 public servants on the payroll. The other numbers are made up of protective service officers and police customer officers.

Recruit numbers are hard to work out and promises by Premier Daniel Andrews back in 2016 to top up the force by 3100 recruits are rubbery at best.

A potential recruit I know went through the whole process, where you have to self-fund all your own medical costs, only to be ignored for months after passing the rigorous physical tests.

Police and security try to move on a racegoer for alleged anti-social behaviour at this year’s Derby Day. Photo: Getty

That person eventually gave up on their ambition, citing low pay and lack of feedback as the main reasons.

Vic Pol now present as one part paramilitary government political tool, and one part government PR unit.

Take Covid - when police command allowed the force to arrest people for going to a playground.

Commissioner Shane Patton warned fines would result and his members were forced to police curfews, break up protests including using shields, batons, rubber bullets and fine people trying to simply have a chat in a park.

Meanwhile, post Covid, the Victorian government tells you to call a 1300 number to report non-urgent crimes, like your house being burgled or your car stolen.

In the real world, Melbourne now sees almost daily car jackings - a crime never heard of in the past - violent home invasions that have terrified people even in leafy Brighton and lawless gangs armed with knives roaming the streets.

Youths have no fear of police or of arrest because they know soft magistrates appointed by Labor mates will just give them bail, time after time.

Government and police command will quote crime stats at you but being frightened to catch a tram after 10pm for fear of being stabbed or bashed means stats don’t matter much.

Victoria and Victorians need better from our police and law and order should be an election issue. But sadly, Victorians are so weary and downtrodden, it’s not.

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