Victoria’s New Chief Commissioner, Mike Bush, has announced a major restructure of Victoria Police in an effort to make inroads into the burgeoning crime rates.
Although we may not know the full extent of this restructure, what has been reported is extremely good news.
Good news for those of us who favour effective policing based on the community’s needs.
The CAA has advocated these changes for over a decade, through the tenure of five Chief Commissioners who couldn’t or didn’t want to witness the flawed process of ineffective Reactive policing.
Coupled with their lack of leadership skills, the current crime imbroglio was inevitable.
The legacy left behind is that a number of Police officers who were promoted under the flawed reactive model will have difficulty adjusting to the new and modern policing methodology.
They should seriously consider their future and perhaps step aside.
For those who won’t accept the change and take the honourable option, Chief Commissioner Bush has no other choice but to take decisive action to prevent these members from tainting the Police workforce as they adopt this critical change.
The broad principles of freeing up desk-bound police to bolster the proactive function of the force are long overdue.
Similarly, reducing a top-heavy structure that has, for years, consumed both resources and hindered decision-making, drawing decisions up to the hierarchy, far removed from the issue, has effectively diminished the Force’s effectiveness rather than enhancing it.
Solutions to challenges by successive Chiefs Commissioners have led to the creation of more bureaucracies, resulting in more Police being promoted to executive roles and their staff being drawn from the frontline.
The vision by Bush is laudable, focusing on reducing crime before it happens is not a soft option, as some Police hardheads will argue. Their views on reactive (lock ’em up) policing as the way to curb crime have been a failure over the last decade, and it is refreshing to talk about a renaissance of good policing.
It is reported that the Force is facing a mass exodus, which may turn out to be a blessing for the Force and the State.
Some serving members eyeing retirement to escape the fundamentally flawed Police strategy of the last decade may be persuaded to change their minds upon seeing the new direction. Hopefully, many of the hardheads will exit rather than try to adapt to the proactive model.
That would be a significant win for Policing in this state, as many of the ranked members are entrenched in the reactive model and were promoted on this basis.
Their future promotion or retention looks bleak.
The announcement that former or retired Police officers will be offered positions to relieve operational members of administrative duties is not only very sensible but also highly desirable for the benefit of the Force and the Community.
As many of these former members served the Force when it was focused on prevention, they will be an excellent role model to convert sceptical members who have never had that experience.
There are many ex-members who are not so old but resigned for family reasons. Now, as their families grow older, they may relish a return to the Policing fold to restart their careers, given that many of them served before the Force became reactive.
This recruiting cohort could provide the Force with the numbers boost needed to strengthen the proactive model implementation.
The key will be the flexibility and attractiveness of the employment offer.
We hope that this new direction includes a proper Police In Schools Program, which supports Secondary Schools from which most of our juvenile cohort emerge. Not only will this divert many from crime, but it will also create fertile ground for recruiting young people to pursue relevant studies that will equip them to join the Force after leaving school.
We also hope that the Blue Light Disco project is reinvigorated to provide direct interaction between youth and Police aimed at developing long-term positive influences with our youth.
To round out this particular trilogy, the Force needs to take a fresh look at Operation New-Start, designed to keep children in school and off the streets.
Recently published figures on school attendance are abysmal, likely due to schools simply sending problematic children home. Hence, the contribution by this cohort of bored children to the crime epidemic.
Probably a product of the Super School concept, where young people are lost in the system, the only way to improve the situation is to make the necessary legislative adjustments so these children can find employment.
If school doesn’t work for them, joining the workforce at a young age will equip them with life skills for the future, rather than sitting around wasting their life and being drawn to crime.
The current VCAL option is education-focused rather than career-focused and fails troubled kids.
Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.
By adopting this strategy, the net benefit to the State would be immeasurable as opposed to the impact of them committing crimes.
Each of these projects works well in isolation but are highly successful when worked as a trilogy.
This strategy will be far more effective and cheaper than the much-vaunted boot camp concept.
Mr Bush has a quarter of century of mis management at command level since 2000 to correct. The then Chief Commissioner advocated strongly that Victoria did not have gangs. Head in the sand stuff. The successive Commissioners welcoming bikies to Victoria. I keep saying it, this is a partnership with the Courts and the Government, without their real support Mr Bush’s vision has only 2 wheels of a four wheeled project. In short real resources are needed from government to introduce “Jacks” law, permits for protests, re-introduction of the old consorting law just to name a few. The judges need to be released from their ties in being dictated in sentencing by precedent of past cases. Rid the bench of left-wing magistrates who have no concept of the suffering of victims of crime. Incidentally, in the last crime stats, the government are referring to them as “incidents”, they are crimes!!!!and with each stat, of 106 thousand plus, that represents concretively 106 thousand plus victims of crime. I say concretively as many have lost fate in the perceived justice system and don’t even bother reporting crime. This is not a quick fix and will take Mr Bush’s first five-year term to change the tide. Thank you for having the courage to introduce real positive solutions.
The Chief Commission’s proposed changes are well overdue and being done for all the right reasons.
Hopefully, the Chilef Commission will go even further and restructure the entire police force to include:
a. Further reduce the number of senior executive levels, particularly Assistant Commissioner.
b. Stop management by committee.
c. Eliminate the matrix structure and implement a departmental structure that will establish clear lines of responsibility and accountability. This will avoid the stupidity of “shared responsibility” as it now occurs.
d. Centrally manage crime.
e. Abolish sworn police working part time.
All the best Chief Commissioner Bush, you are on the right path.
Congratulations Mike. Bush. This reform has been coming for a while, and many Police officers have forgotten about catching crooks. There are far too many non-operational Police.
Good luck, Mike Bush. You’re going to need it. While these much-needed changes have been called for by the CAA and others for years, you still have to implement them with an incompetent, corrupt, and ‘woke’ government that will do everything in its power to stop you. But hey, we will have a hole in the ground between Cheltenham to Box Hill, so who needs funding for an effective police force?
You do realise this is the policing model prior to the introduction, and focus on domestic violence which took officers off the street with paperwork and procedural processes. It’s not the old guard who are the issue. And you forget that experience trumps enthusiasm every time.
Chief Commissioner Bush, you have a very challenging job ahead of you to make Victoria Police the once revered and respected police force it once was and can be again. As you have stated, this needs reform and restructure to fine tune the top heavy Command and executive (many are political appointments) that have diverted scarce resources from community safety to non core programs and projects. This along with streamlining “back office” systems and returning police in non core roles back to “front line” service functions will get the community support necessary. The other factor in achieving community safety is reform to the Judicial process, which is a matter for the electorate. The Victorian community’s well being needs to see you succeed in this vital challenge. Good luck.
I think the real weak link in Mr Bush’s plan is the re employing of ex members. I am an ex member and after the way I have been treated by victoria police going back to that toxic organisation will not be an option and I am sure I am not the only one. Yes I understand pro active policing and catching crooks however most of the current cohort of police have no idea and are reactive at best. Any ex member worth their salt would just be banging their head against a brick wall trying to educate them how to be a real copper. In my view the organisation needs to invest heavily in recruiting the right profile of person in the first place however good luck wirth that now. I wish you well Mr Bush but will not hold my breath.