Police stations won’t reopen despite a $62 million recruitment boost

Police chief Mike Bush has said Victorians should not expect local stations operating at reduced hours to reopen, despite the state government striking a $62 million deal to rehire retired officers.

The plan to bring 200 officers back to the force is part of a $93 million package announced on Tuesday by Police Minister Anthony Carbines before May’s state budget to quash declining ranks in the force over Jacinta Allan’s tenure as premier.

Victoria Police data shows the force has shed 728 full-time officers from 16,191 sworn officers in June 2024 to 15,463 by March of this year – reversing the growth seen in the months after Allan was appointed premier in September 2023.

The overall Victoria Police workforce – which includes sworn officers, recruits, civilian employees, protective service officers, custody officers and reservists – has also fallen after hitting its peak of 21,900 full-time employees in June 2024 to about 20,800 full-time employees currently.

The $93 million boost also includes $18.3 million allocated for 3000 iPhones loaded with specialist software to allow detectives to complete administrative tasks on the road and access intelligence, and $13.4 million to triple the number of illicit tobacco inspectors.

There are currently 14 inspectors dedicated to take on the thousands of stores suspected of selling illegal tobacco. Carbines said on Tuesday the $13.4 million would bring this number up to a total of 40.

The new regulator, dubbed Tobacco Licensing Victoria (TLC), has faced a slow start. In February, on the first day a new licensing requirement for businesses selling tobacco products was in full effect, this masthead found smuggled cigarettes being sold from an unlicensed shop just 100 metres from the regulator’s headquarters.

The regulator is also awaiting legislation to be passed through parliament to give it powers to shut down the shops caught selling illicit products.

Carbines said on Tuesday that $5 million worth of illegal tobacco products had been seized since February, but conceded the regulator had not been able to shut down the stores from which they were confiscated.

While Bush said the rehiring initiative would allow trained officers to return to duties immediately, he noted the staffing increase would not result in stations that had reduced their operating hours reopening.

“The community do not want their trained and operational police officers sitting behind a public counter, certifying documents that … other people can do,” he said.

Bush pledged in October to redirect hundreds of officers from behind their desks and back onto the streets. However, dozens of police stations have operated at reduced hours since late 2023 due to staff shortages.

Locals raised concerns last month after Williamstown police station – which had already reduced its operating hours to two days a week earlier this year – was unable to open the day after a firebombing gutted a main street ice-creamery.

“We don’t have sufficient resourcing to open this Friday or next Monday,” a Victoria Police memo sent to local authorities and obtained by The Age read.

Bush said on Tuesday he had spoken to people in Williamstown after the attack who had raised those concerns to him directly.

“I spoke to members of the community that were right there having their coffee next to the crime scene. They said to me, ‘Are you going to reopen our police station?’” Bush said.

“I said to them, ‘Wouldn’t you rather those police officers, who worked from that station, were out in the community?’ Within seconds, they went, ‘You know, actually, we want cops to be out in the community.’”

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