Walk-up service at four inner-Melbourne police stations is ending. Victoria Police has confirmed that counter services at the Collingwood, Fitzroy, Southbank and North Melbourne stations will close to the public from October 4, the ABC reports — though all four will remain as operational bases.
Assistant Commissioner Jo Stafford said the changes would boost the number of officers available for frontline duties across inner Melbourne. "The police stations themselves will remain open as operational bases, with officers continuing to work and deploy from these locations around the clock," she said. "The changes will enable more police members to be visible in the community, conducting patrols, preventing crime, and responding to incidents when and where they are needed most."
The additional officers would "support highly visible community safety operations", Assistant Commissioner Stafford said, including Operation Harmony in Melbourne's CBD and Operation Assurance along Victoria Street. "The changes will also strengthen Victoria Police's capacity to hold offenders to account and manage prisoners."
Her case for the closures leans on geography: all four stations losing their counters are within a short distance of neighbouring stations — including Melbourne West, Melbourne East and Richmond — which will continue to provide 24-hour public counter services.
An 'operational matter', landing in an election
The decision arrives amid a running argument between the Labor government and the Coalition opposition over police funding and resourcing, especially in Melbourne, ahead of the November 28 state election. Last month, Premier Ben Carroll accused the opposition of planning significant cuts to police funding if the Coalition wins, and said recruiting hundreds of former officers as reservists would help address staff shortages. "Victorians have told us they still want to see someone at the counter when they walk into their local station, and I'm listening," Mr Carroll said in August. "That's why these new reservists will go straight to counters chosen by Victoria Police's intelligence."
Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin said on Saturday the inner-city closures amounted to a broken promise. "Ben Carroll looked Victorians in the eye and promised more police stations would be open for longer," Mr Battin said, arguing that less than three weeks later, Labor was permanently closing four station counters to the public. "Labor has failed to properly resource our police, failed to control crime and now they're shutting the doors of local police stations while Victorians feel less safe."
A Victorian government spokeswoman said operational decisions were made by Victoria Police, independently of the government. "Victorians have been very clear that they still want to see someone at the counter when they walk into their local station and we're listening," she said. "That's why we've announced the recruitment of 400 police reservists to get station counters open and put more police back out on the beat," the spokeswoman said. "Every reservist on the front counter is a sworn officer which frees up our frontline police to get out on the streets — responding to crime, not answering phones."
Victoria Police calls it an operational matter, and the government agrees. But with the election just under 12 weeks away, a decision about who answers the front desk in Collingwood has become another round in the fight over police resourcing in Victoria.
