On Tuesday, 20 May, more than 200 off-duty police officers rallied against the ongoing and systematic funding cuts and decrease in resources for police in the Geelong region.
Police Association secretary, Ron Iddles, addressed the rally, saying it was the first time he could recall a group of police rallying publically for more support.
Police officers have rallied in public because they have been left no other option, as their desperate calls for increased resources continue to be ignored by this government.
Just like with Victoria’s ambulance officers and firefighters, the Napthine government is simply not interested in hearing about critical issues from important services personnel who keep Victorians safe each and every day.
Mr Iddles said Geelong’s police numbers were in crisis and he has never seen the frustration of staff so high and the morale so low in his more than 18 years of service.
Mr Iddles also said that the community should be outraged and that he is aware that a number of calls from the community to police are going unattended.
It is not the police officer’s fault, he said. It happens because there has been a drastic reduction in police officers – and it is not good enough.
As was discovered through a Labor FOI request, Geelong police numbers are down 19 per cent from 224 to 181, whilst crime in the region is up 18 per cent.
These men and women put their lives on the line each and every day they put on the uniform, yet this government refuses to give them the appropriate resources.