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| NEWS > 18 August 2006 |
Other related articles:
Jamaica: Police Dismiss Report
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mark Shields is dismissing reports that members of the Pakistan cricket team were mistreated during early investigations into the death of their coach, Bob Woolmer on March 18.
"Nothing could be farther from the truth. I have said throughout that we have nothing but 100 per cent co-operation from the Pakistan team. They were treated with dignity and respect at a time when their coach had died under tragic circumstances and they were very upset," the Deputy Commissioner said at a press conference at the Jamaica Police Officers Club on Hope Road on April... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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NEWS.com.au - Australia
18 August 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Patrols vanish in 'black hole'
POLICE patrols have been secretly cut while the Bracks Government has been telling Victorians more police are being put on the beat.
A Herald Sun investigation has found 750 officers -- one in 10 -- have been taken off general duties at police stations in the past two years.
Premier Steve Bracks and Police Minister Tim Holding have repeatedly said that hundreds of extra police were being put on the streets to boost public safety.
Mr Bracks said at a police graduation last month that his Government had fulfilled a pledge to put "a total of 1400 extra police on the beat".
But leaked police documents show the number of general duties staff at the state's 327 police stations fell from 7474 in 2004 to just 6726 this year.
This is despite the hiring of 877 more police since 2003, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $200 million.
Police Association secretary Sen-Sgt Paul Mullett said that when the cuts and the extra recruits were taken into account, more than 1500 police had "disappeared down a big black hole".
"This is clear evidence of the total mismanagement of resources and funding provided by government to resource stations and frontline work units," Sen-Sgt Mullett said.
But a police spokeswoman said those taken off general duties were in "other specialist tasks to bring down crime".
She said police had informed the Government only of the increase in total operational numbers, not of the cuts to general policing ranks.
The cuts have seen:
CLAYTON police station unable to remain open for 16 hours, as required.
A SERGEANT manning Lara police station alone.
SANDRINGHAM and Brighton stations forced to share a divisional van.
ONLY one van able to be put on the road at Oakleigh police station.
Sen-Sgt Mullett called for the Auditor-General and the Office of Police Integrity to investigate urgently to find where the extra police had gone.
"The Chief Commissioner has clearly misled the Premier and Police Minister," he said.
"How else can you explain their public claims hundreds of extra police have been put on the beat to boost public safety?
"One of our core functions is patrolling and providing a visible police presence to the community, and the only way we can do that is by properly staffing police stations."
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon's spokeswoman said numbers of operational police, such as detectives and specialists, had risen significantly since 2003, and crime had fallen 22 per cent in five years.
She said these frontline police included "members of the criminal investigation units, crime desks, traffic management units, force response unit, regional response units, sexual offences, child abuse unit and members in crime squads, or on taskforces such as Purana."
Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells accused the Government of misleading voters.
"There are too many police tied up on so-called special projects, looking after prisoners in police cells or stuck behind desks," Mr Wells said.
"Communities right across Victoria are complaining there are not enough frontline police."
Mr Wells said more police on the beat would reverse what he said was a 29 per cent rise in violent crime under the Bracks Government.
Mr Holding said specialised officers now did some work previously done by general duties police.
"Police officers who investigate child abuse and sex offences are doing real police work, as are those who investigate burglaries, car thefts and crime scenes," he said.
Mr Holding said most of the extra police hired were on the front line.
He said last month that the Government had delivered more than 1600 extra police officers "to the beat" to boost public safety.
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