In brief

Lonigan name lives on

A new custody area at Glen Waverley Police Station has not only brought greater safety for staff, it now also honours an officer who lost his life in the line of duty.

In March, a ceremony was held to officially announce the new name of the facility as the Constable Thomas Lonigan Custody Centre.

Const Lonigan was one of three police officers murdered by Ned Kelly and his gang at Stringybark Creek in 1878.

Glen Waverley Senior Sergeant Greg Dean said there was a direct connection to the fallen officer at the station, with Const Lonigan's great, great grandson veteran Sergeant Erin Tunstall having worked there for more than 20 years before retiring in July last year.

“We really wanted to honour the ultimate sacrifice Const Lonigan made but also honour and celebrate the career of veteran Sgt Tunstall, as well as the Lonigan family,” Sen Sgt Dean said.

Mr Tunstall and members of his family attended the ceremony, along with Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir, other members of Eastern Region command and Neil Soullier, Chief Executive Officer of the Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation.

The Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation supported the naming dedication by donating a plaque to display outside the custody area entrance, as well as a framed copy for the Tunstall family.

Recruit rollout finishes

The biggest recruitment drive in Victoria Police’s history has come to an end.

In May, the final deployment of 2729 new officers as funded through the State Government’s Community Safety Statement was announced, with 396 new police to begin work across the state over the next 12 months.

The Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Wyndham, Casey, Cardinia, Greater Dandenong, Yarra Ranges, Knox and Ballarat police service areas shared the largest portion of the latest deployment, while Victoria Police’s specialist commands, such as Transit and Public Safety and Intelligence and Covert Support Command, will receive 167 police.

The Professional Standards Command will dedicate 11 new staff to investigating Victoria Police employees who are perpetrators of family violence and providing support to complainants and victims, while six police will be tasked to tackling cybercrime in Victoria Police’s Crime Command.

The rollout completes the Community Safety Statement allocation, which resulted in 825 officers assigned across the state in 2018 and an additional 720 deployed in 2019. Last year, 788 police were deployed.

Victoria Police has used its Staff Allocation Model (SAM) in recent years to allocate new resources, taking into account factors such as calls for assistance, reported crime, event management and the time required to provide these services.

“Since 2018, our additional police have been deployed to the areas of greatest need using the SAM, allowing us to put more police out on patrol, responding where and when needed in the community, and in dedicated areas such as family violence, transit safety, highway patrol, and sexual offences and child abuse teams,” Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.

While the Community Safety Statement allocation has been filled, Victoria Police is still actively recruiting police and Protective Services Officers. For more information, visit police.vic.gov.au/careers

Childcare for court

A connection between a Victoria Police Family Violence Investigation Unit (FVIU) and a family violence charity has resulted in a childcare facility being established at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court.

The initiative came about after Kathy Kaplan OAM, founder and president of Impact, an entirely volunteer-run charity committed to making a difference to survivors of family violence in Victoria, approached the Bayside FVIU about how to best use money raised by the charity.

“During a meeting between Ms Kaplan and detective sergeants Richard Carnegie

and Tom O’Loughlin, it was identified that there were no child-minding facilities in any court in Victoria to assist those impacted by family violence,” Bayside FVIU Detective Senior Sergeant David Quirk said.

“Because of this, the affected family members had to rely on the goodwill of relatives, friends and, at times, neighbours to assist with minding their children when attending court.

“This process could create additional trauma for survivors of family violence and their children.”

Ms Kaplan and detective sergeants Carnegie and O’Loughlin then engaged the services of women and children’s support network Emerge to oversee the implementation of the project.

“There are now two qualified childcare workers at the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court every Thursday, allowing women to attend court for family violence matters without needing to stress about finding someone to care for their children,” Det Sen Sgt Quirk said.