Cop shop greets custody officers

Geelong will wait at least another 18 months for its full complement of new custody officers to put police back on the beat, the State Government has confirmed.
The Government announced that 20 of the officers would be stationed at Geelong Police Station to release cops from having to monitor arrested prisoners in the station’s cells.
The first batch of custody officers arrived in Geelong this week but the office of MP Christine Couzens said the Police Minister was “expecting” the rest by the middle of 2017.
Victoria Police would determine where the freed-up resources would be allocated, Ms Couzens’s office said.
The Geelong custody officers who arrived on Monday had only graduated on Friday, Ms Couzens said.
“Custody officers will free up police so they can get back into the community,” she said.
“I welcome our new custody officers. They will play a critical community role in serving the people of Geelong.
“This government is delivering on its election commitment and I look forward to more police returning to the front line in Geelong as custody officers are progressively deployed.”
Ms Couzens’s office said Geelong would be the region’s only station with custody officers but a total of 120 would be stationed around regional Victoria.
The Andrews Government has committed $149 million to recruit, train and deploy 400 of the officers in 22 stations over the next three years.
The officers’ powers include searching police station prisoners, transporting them to and from court and guarding offenders in hospital.
The Government said they would also be able to supervise offenders while they took their own swabs for DNA samples and help with breath and drug testing in police stations.