CONCERNS were raised at a Victoria Police forum in Kerang this week about under-age drinking and alcohol-fuelled violence.
Other issues raised with police included the new policy requiring two police officers on each crew, the danger of stock wandering on roads, the need for CCTV in the town’s central business district and concerns abour court day crowds.
Simialr forums have already been held at Cohuna and Koondrook, featured police officers including Inspector Dan Davison, Senior Sergeant Dave Bowler, Sergeant Brett Sampson, Acting Sergeant Barry Gray, Senior Constable Travis Collier, crime prevention officer Leading Senior Constable Tania Peters and Constable Jacob Wilson.
Twelve people attended to learn more about local policing, as well as provide feedback on areas of concern.
On the topic of service delivery, Inspector Davison said Kerang was reasonably well staffed, with one senior sergeant, two sergeants and nine frontline officers.
“Some stations are hard to fill because people don’t necessarily want to come to country Victoria, but they don’t know what they’re missing out on and it will only get better with house prices in Melbourne,” he said.
“There is an issue at a lot of smaller stations where people don’t want to ring police because they don’t want to annoy them, but if you’ve got a problem you need to ring us or 000 or Crime Stoppers.”
He said there were two police officers on call every night in Gannawarra, while the Swan Hill station operated around the clock.
Several forum attendees asked how the two-crew policy had impacted service delivery.
Senior Sergeant Bowler while the policy had at first been ironclad – with police officers always required to turn out in pairs – there was now more flexibility, except with highway patrol units.
“It has had an impact, no doubt, especially with the highway patrol because they are always two-up now,” he said.
Senior Sergeant Bowler also talked at length about Kerang’s crime statistics.
Offences against the person rose from 58 in 2014 to 61 in 2015, including 38 assaults, 11 sexual offences and 10 cases of stalking.
There were 119 property offences in 2015, including 56 thefts, after 104 offences in 2014 and 125 in 2013.
Drug offences rose from 15 in 2014 to 23 in 2015, which Senior Sergeant Bowler said reflected the increased police work around drugs, including the Dob in a Dealer campaign.
“We rely on you guys to feed information to us, because you know what’s going on and it may be the information we need to get a warrant and act,” he said.
He said the drug which caused by far the most issues was alcohol – a matter of concern also raised by the audience, particularly under-age drinking and alcohol-fuelled violence.
Senior Sergeant Bowler said the Party Safe register and the Gannawarra Liquor Accord had done much to address these issues, as highlighted by the decrease in public order offences from 99 in 2012, to 63 in 2013, 48 in 2014 and 35 in 2015.
“We have a strong liquor accord in the Gannawarra Shire that sets the tone for what happens in our licensed premises and without it we would have a lot more issues in our pubs,” he said.
Forum attendees raised the prospect of CCTV for Kerang’s shopping centre.Senior Sergeant Bowler said there were challenges around the cost of installation and manpower required to monitor it.
A local business owner also expressed concern about the gathering of people in Victoria Square on days when the Kerang Magistrates’ Court is sitting.
Gannawarra Shire Council chief executive officer, Eric Braslis said there was a possibility the square could be designated a non-smoking area.
In total, 301 offences were recorded in Kerang in 2015, up from 273 in 2014 but down from 324 in 2013, 321 in 2012 and 420 in 2011.
On the district’s roads, Senior Sergeant Bowler said the majority of collisions involved a single vehicle.
In 2015 there were 10 injury collisions, but there have already been 12 collisions to date this year.
The forum also included a presentation from crime prevention officer, Leading Senior Constable Tania Peters, who highlighted areas of concern including firearms theft, livestock theft, unlocked vehicles and unsecured valuables.
“Firearms theft is a disturbing trend in rural Victoria, especially from farm sheds that aren’t used frequently and there can be a big time lag in the thefts being reported to us, so it is difficult to investigate,” she said.
