UPDATED – Sunshine police station will be one of the first stations in the state to get custody officers from January next year, with 20 to be introduced by June.
Their introduction is part a three year rollout aimed at easing the workload on existing police officers with legislation to be introduced to parliament today.
Sunshine police Inspector Dave Byrt said the officers will manage prisoner movement and security in and around the station and Sunshine Magistrates Court.
“The first four custody officers are expected to arrive in January. The remainder will be phased in over the following six months,” he said.
“We are excited at the opportunities that this will provide us in terms of retasking our staff who were previously required to perform prisoner security duties.
“Releasing our staff from prisoner management duties will enable us to provide a greater focus on proactively managing family violence, volume crime such as theft of motor cars, theft from motor cars and burglary.”
The officers will be employed as public servants and will not be armed with guns or tasers.
Recruitment began last month for the first round of officers, who will begin their training at the Police Academy in December, with four hundred officers to be deployed across the state at 22 stations over the next three years.
Police Minister Wade Noonan said the move would free up police to do the job they were trained to do.
“This legislation gives Victoria’s new custody officers the powers they need to manage police cells so that sworn officers can get back into the community to tackle crime,” he said.
“Custody officers will provide a major boost to police resources and will allow more police to do what they do best – fight and prevent crime.”
