Victoria Police to go ‘back to basics’ to tackle crime

Victoria Police is “focused on catching crooks” but wants locals to play a role in keeping their community safe. Now a “Neighbourhood Policing” model is going back to basics.

Constable Tyler Sherlock and Sen-Sgt Trev Blair with James and his Craigieburn City Football Club teammates. Picture: Ian Currie

Police across the state will tackle the biggest problems facing their communities in a new “back to basics” overhaul.

By March, every police station in Victoria will adopt a new “Neighbourhood Policing” model where they compile a list of residents’ top crime concerns, assign officers to fix them and then report back.

The initiative was successfully introduced last year in Monash, Hume, Frankston, Southern Grampians, Ballarat, Wellington, Melton and Glen Eira-Bayside, with hooning, drugs and street crime consistently identified as key issues.

Assistant Commissioner Tim Hansen said the back-to-basics model signalled a return to grassroots policing after two years of Covid-19.

“We will still be focused on catching crooks, but we want to provide a more even balance between reactive and proactive policing – helping identify emerging issues before they become a problem,” he said.

“To get the basics of policework right, we need to still hold offenders to account, but with a focus on preventing crime in the first instance.

“That means always listening to what’s concerning the community – be it the local shopkeeper worried about vandalism, a parent concerned about driver behaviour around their child’s school or someone who doesn’t feel safe on the local bus.”

Every police station will keep a register of issues that matter most to the community based on surveys, forums and scanning local social media pages.

Local safety committees – usually involving police, council and community groups – will also guide which issues are priorities.

Police will then get to work solving the problem, calling on local government, schools, sporting clubs and other groups to address more complex issues before reporting back via public forums or local Eyewatch pages.

Last year, massive groups of illegal dirt bike riders routinely tore up parks, including a children’s sports field, in Hume.

Local area commander Inspector Dean Clinton said the Neighbourhood Policing initiative brought to light the widespread fear it was causing the area.

“It was genuinely putting lives at risk,” Inspector Clinton said. Police responded by increasing patrols and conducting mobile camera operations in the area.

Fifty motorcycles were impounded, 18 people arrested and eight searches were carried out, and stolen motorcycle helmets, phones, cameras, drugs and clothing were seized.

Inspector Clinton said the parks were now much safer and council was working to install additional safety features.

The Neighbourhood Policing initiative is expected to be introduced in all 54 police service areas by the end of March.