Residents have rallied in Caroline Springs as the push to extend police station operating hours continues.
Members of the Taylors Hill Safety Committee took to the streets on Saturday, urging the state government to make Caroline Springs a 24-hour station and deploy more police across the north west. The rally comes after Keilor Labor MP Natalie Hutchins tabled a petition bearing 1142 signatures in Parliament late last month.
Taylors Hill Safety Committee member Ian Herbert said hooning and family violence were commonplace outside station hours.
“The police numbers are down in the north west and the crime figures are up,” he said. “That tells you something. This is not a criticism of the police. We are trying to get support for them.”
Police Association secretary Ron Iddles supported the move.
“Melton and Brimbank desperately need an injection of more officers so they can provide an adequate policing service to their community,” he said. “Front line police numbers are nowhere near keeping pace with the rapidly growing populations in theses municipalities.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman would not say whether Caroline Springs would become a 24-hour police station, but said that police numbers had jumped by 1500 since November 2010.
