Uncomfortable: Inspector Gary Bruce at Wednesday’s meeting.
By Michelle Herbison
THE REGION’S top cop has sparked a rift with Bellarine Peninsula police over plans for staffing the area over summer.
Insp Gary Bruce said a meeting with officers-in-charge from Ocean Grove, Drysdale, Queenscliff and Portarlington this week revealed most were “not convinced” of his plans for a staffing overhaul.
Insp Bruce said he was reviewing the way police resourced the Bellarine Peninsula over busy summer months to ensure efficiency.
“I’m certainly not comfortable with some of the arrangements in place in the past.”
But Bellarine Police’s Senior Sergeant David Magher said the meeting to discuss the peninsula’s requirements revealed a rift.
“The majority of the meeting (participants) aren’t convinced yet but we’ll see how things pan out,”
“Some people have been policing down here for eight, nine, 15 years. It’s hard to teach old dogs new tricks, especially blokes who’ve been policing in small towns for a long time,” he said.
Sen Sgt Magher said financing police was “one of the main issues” but he had requested Geelong police to provide the same additional staff on the peninsula as in the past.
Last year police command stationed four extra officers at Ocean Grove, two at Portarlington and Queenscliff and one at Drysdale.
“What we’ve had in the past has always worked,” Sen Sgt Magher said.
“I think there’s always room for improvement and if someone’s got a better idea I’ll listen to it but adopting to change is always difficult to deal with.”
Insp Bruce said he planned to staff the area with “similar numbers” but would consider “tasking them another way”.
He suggested some police could be based in Geelong and travel to Bellarine Peninsula towns on busy days.
“They’ll then perform road policing duties as soon as they leave the station.”
Insp Bruce said he might favour a program asking police from other areas to “sell back their leave” to work on the coast over summer rather than simply transferring staff from other areas.
“If they’re coming from somewhere else it shrinks the period they’re able to take leave so it can reduce capacity at their stations.”
Insp Bruce questioned whether previous arrangements were efficient.
“The issue is whether they are gainfully employed when they go down there,” he said.
