MAKING NEWS For the latest police news visit police.vic.gov.au/news
NEW CENTRE FOR MAJOR INCIDENTS A facility crucial to Victoria Police’s coronavirus (COVID-19) response, the State Police Operations Centre (SPOC), has been one of the main beneficiaries of the move to the organisation’s new headquarters. The move into the new Victoria Police Centre (VPC) at 311 Spencer Street, Docklands in the second half of 2020 marked the end of an era for the SPOC, first established 25 years ago at the previous VPC at the World Trade Centre on Flinders Street. But State Emergencies and Support Command (SESC) Assistant Commissioner Michael Grainger said the relocation also meant the SPOC had entered a new era in its role as the nerve centre for coordinating Victoria Police’s management of major incidents, emergencies and events. “We’ve moved into a fit-for-purpose facility that should serve us very well for the next few decades,” AC Grainger said. “The SPOC has been continuously activated for the pandemic response 24 hours a day since March, by far the longest activation in its history.
More meeting rooms and break-out rooms in the new SPOC will allow whole teams such as the facility’s operations, logistics or investigations cells to relocate for important planning. “It is easier for liaison officers from partner agencies like the Australian Federal Police and Australian Defence Force to work in the SPOC because they will have specific facilities with their appropriate information technology equipment,” AC Grainger said. AC Grainger said the SPOC exists to support frontline officers to keep the community safe. “The whole aim of this new SPOC is for it to be as seamless as possible and hopefully the only thing frontline officers and members of the public will pick up on is even more efficient and effective decision making and support,” he said. “The move was a significant point in our history because the SPOC has played a central role in the major incidents and events that have formed Victoria Police’s history over the last 25 years.”
“The functionality and user-friendly areas of the new SPOC, with all the latest technology, means we are able to even better coordinate police in supporting and looking after Victorians through difficult times.” The SPOC is a facility that can be activated by the SESC Assistant Commissioner, any Deputy Commissioner or the Chief Commissioner to exercise strategic command of Victoria Police resources across any major event, incident or emergency.
SPOC milestones 1995
Police Operations Centre established as part of the D24 police communications centre
2000
First tested to coordinate police resources deployed to the World Economic Forum
2006
Activated for the Commonwealth Games
2007
Activated for the Burnley Tunnel fire
2009
Activated for the Black Saturday Bushfires emergency
2010
Major renovation and enhancement in line with recommendations resulting from the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires
2012
Activated for the Grocon industrial dispute
2017
Activated for the mass escape from the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre
2017 and Activated for the two 2018 Bourke Street attacks Image Incident nerve centre The State Police Operations Centre has been central in 2020 to Victoria Police’s response to both the summer bushfires and coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
2020
Activated for the Summer bushfires and coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann POLICE LIFE | SUMMER 2020-21
3
