By Jessica Micallef
More police officers will be out in force in Hume and the Macedon Ranges in the next 12 months.
Victoria Police and the state government have announced 13 new officers for Hume and one officer for Macedon Ranges as part of a deployment of 709 additional officers across Victoria.
The Fawkner police division, which covers Hume and Moreland, will also receive 13 family violence specialists and two crime scene services officers.
The Bendigo division, which covers Macedon Ranges and Bendigo, will share one divisional highway patrol officer and five divisional family violence specialists.
Macedon Ranges Inspector Chris Large welcomed the deployment of extra officers.
“We’re really pleased with the additional resources we’ve been given,” he said. “They’re role is … investigations into family violence across the whole of our division, including Macedon Ranges, Echuca and to the Goldfields.”
Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said the additional officers were crucial.
“Every day and night police right across the state are working hard to keep people safe,” he said.
“We know that in order to do that, we need to be visible in the community, with police out in vans providing a mobile and agile response to incidents.
“With more police on the beat, we have been able to arrest hundreds of offenders daily, conduct more police checks in the community and enforce breaches of bail and intervention orders in record numbers.”
Police Minister Lisa Neville said family violence was Victoria’s top law and order issue.
“[This] is why we’re training even more officers with the skills they need to respond to family violence,” she said.
Crime Statistics Agency Data reveals there were 3376 recorded family violence incidents in Hume between June, 2017, and July last year – an increase of 11 per cent on the previous year.
In the Macedon Ranges, 391 family violence incidents were recorded during the same period, down 4.6 per cent from 410 in the previous year.
The new officers will be deployed by April 2020.
By Jessica Micallef and Laura Michell
