Coalition pledges more cops on streets

A NATIONAL recruiting drive to get an extra 1600 police on the streets in Victoria would be launched under a $344 million Coalition plan.

A NATIONAL recruiting drive to get an extra 1600 police on the streets in Victoria would be launched under a $344 million Coalition plan to tackle growing violence.

In the first big-spending policy hit in the lead-up to the November state election, Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu will today announce a Coalition government would recruit an extra 300 police in its first year and 1600 by the end of its four-year term.

Figures from the Productivity Commission show Victoria has the lowest number of police per capita in the whole country, with only 206 unsworn and sworn operational officers for every 100,000 people. South Australia has the most with 303 per 100,000 while NSW has 237 and Queensland 265.

The Brumby government has been plagued by criticism that it is not doing enough to curb increasing assaults in Melbourne-- especially with knives -- or addressing safety concerns of Indian students.

After the international controversy over the stabbing murder of Indian accounting graduate Nitin Garg in Melbourne's western suburbs in January and other reported incidents of violence, Premier John Brumby announced an amnesty on knives and an advertising campaign to address the problem.

Law and order is expected to be one of the key battlegrounds in the upcoming election along with public transport.

Mr Baillieu said the Coalition's $344m plan would provide an additional 1600 police on the streets in its first term of government. It would be funded by cutting the current government's annual $35m advertising budget -- which would equate to $140m for the next four years -- as well as using predicted budget surpluses.

"We will make Victoria safe again," Mr Baillieu said. "Almost every region in Victoria is suffering from a lack of frontline police under John Brumby, with Victorians experiencing record levels of crime and violence. The Coalition will not tolerate crime, violence or anti-social behaviour." He said a Coalition government would look beyond state borders for new policing recruits and provide $65m for additional equipment and $8m for expanded training facilities.

Nationals leader Peter Ryan said police numbers in Victoria had not increased in the past decade of Labor government.