Victoria Police to close public counters at four inner-city stations

In short: Public counters will close at four inner Melbourne police stations early next month, Victoria Police has confirmed. Assistant Commissioner Jo Stafford says the operational rejig will boost the number of police officers available for frontline duties. What's next? While the decision is a Victoria Police operational matter, the move coincides with debate over law and order in Melbourne ahead of the November state election. Public access to police counter services will end next month at four inner Melbourne stations, feeding into a state election debate over police resourcing. Victoria Police confirmed counter services at Collingwood, Fitzroy, Southbank and North Melbourne police stations would close to the public from October 4, although all four stations would remain as operational bases. Assistant Commissioner Jo Stafford said Victoria Police would boost the number of police officers available for frontline duties across inner Melbourne as part of the operational changes. "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." Assistant Commissioner Stafford said additional officers would "support highly visible community safety operations," 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." She said the four stations losing counter service were all within a short distance of neighbouring police stations including Melbourne West, Melbourne East, and Richmond, which would continue to provide 24-hour public counter services. The operational move by Victoria Police comes amid debate between the Labor government and Coalition opposition over police funding and resourcing, especially in Melbourne. Last month, Victorian Premier Ben Carroll accused the opposition of planning significant cuts to police funding if the Coalition wins the November 28 state election. "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 today said the closure of public counters in the inner city amounted to a broken promise from the premier. "Ben Carroll looked Victorians in the eye and promised more police stations would be open for longer. Less than three weeks later, Labor is permanently closing four of them (counters} to the public," Mr Battin said. "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," the government spokeswoman 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. "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."