Melbourne’s northern suburbs will see more police on the streets, with an additional 61 police officers due to hit the beat over the next year as the Andrews Labor Government continues to deliver the biggest boost to police resources in history.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Police Lisa Neville today joined Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton to announce the allocation of the next 825 new police – part of the biggest recruitment effort in Victoria Police’s 165 year history.

From next month, this next allocation of the Labor Government funded 3135 new police will start to be deployed to communities across Victoria, with all new police officers on the beat by April next year.

The Member for Yan Yean, Danielle Green welcomed the 61 new police officers allocated to Melbourne’s north, including 8 new uniform officers to the Whittlesea area.

The new police officers have been allocated to communities based on Victoria Police’s Staffing Allocation Model, which examines key data to ensure local communities have the police they need.

As part of these new police officers allocated, 25 officers will be allocated to the northern suburbs to boost investigation and response resources. The new police officers include an extra 12 police officers allocated to police stations in the northern suburbs as specialist family violence roles, which frees up other police to deal with other crime. It also includes parental leave backfill positions.

Family violence can take up to 60 per cent of police time on shift, with officers attending a family violence incident every seven minutes. These dedicated resources will be a huge benefit to local stations.

The new officers are in addition to the 45 new officers recruited for the Whittlesea Police Service area stationed at the recently opened Mernda Police Station.

The resourcing boost is part of the Labor Government’s Community Safety Statement, which is underpinned by a record $2 billion investment that is giving police the resources, powers and laws it needs to keep Victoria safe.

Quote attributable to Danielle Green, Member for Yan Yean

“The safety of our local community is key and we’ve listened to police to give them everything they need – the resources, the technology and the powers – to keep the community safe.”

Quote attributable to Lily D’Ambrosio, Member for Mill Park

“This is another major community safety boost for Melbourne’s northern suburbs, with an extra 61 officers to hit the beat over the next year as part of our record funding for police.”