Sunshine police station is among 20 stations across the state that could have ‘custody officers’ manning its cells if Labor wins this month’s state election.
Kicking off its election campaign last week, the Labor Party announced it would spend $148.6 million to train and deploy 400 custody officers to watch over prisoners being detained in custody at police stations.
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said Sunshine police station was running a mini-jail, with four ‘category A’ police cells – that is, police cells that have been gazetted under the Corrections Act and operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each of the Sunshine cells has three beds.
Mr Noonan estimated as many as 12 Sunshine police officers spend their weekly shifts “babysitting” prisoners instead of working on the beat.
Keilor Downs police station does not have category A police cells.
Mr Noonan said, if elected, Labor would recruit and train custody officers during 2015 and distribute them across 20 Victorian police stations, including Sunshine, by 2017.
“It’s a policy that will ease the level of frustration for police, who in many cases find the supervision of prisoners to be fairly gruelling work. They’d be out catching crooks rather than supervising them. We see this as a way of using our highly trained police in a more effective way.”
Police association secretary Ron Iddles welcomed the move.
“Ultimately, it will release 400 police officers back on to the street where they belong,” he said.
“Regardless of the number [of cells], it would normally take at least four officers a shift to look after prisoners. So you’re talking 12 officers each day; it’s a ma
ssive impost on general duties police officers.”
But state Police Minister Kim Wells said Labor was only “ playing catch-up on law and order”.
