The headline in today’s Herald Sun,Thin blue line: Police exodus exposed, 24th September 2025, is not good news, particularly for a State where crime is rampant and the safety of all of us is severely compromised.

Elsewhere in the same paper, a further headline suggests, ‘How about zero tolerance for crims’.

The synergy of these two headlines is not lost.

With over 1,000 job vacancies at the Victoria Police, it is no wonder that the tolerance for criminals needs adjustment, but without the necessary resources, the chances are next to zero.

It is time to apply some lateral thinking to the issue, because doing nothing is as criminal as the problem that needs addressing.

Closing Police Stations is not the answer, and the negative impact on communities in the closures has a profoundly adverse effect on the communities they are designed to serve.

It is often said in police parlance that the visible police presence is one of the most effective anti-crime strategies available, but it extends just as strongly to the cop on the beat as to the cop at the station.

A closed station sends the message that there are no police present.

The reality is that police are still generally engaged in mobile patrols and other policing activities, but this doesn’t sit well with a victim trying to report a crime or seeking refuge in a police station, which is seen as both a symbolic and real safe haven in times of crisis.

It is like having a hospital in your neighbourhood. Even if you don’t use it, it’s nice to know it is there. If it were removed, it would leave a vacuum in your healthcare.

Perhaps more critically, anybody with substantial experience with the crooks in our society will tell you that overall, they are not the ‘sharpest tools in the shed’, and this is multiplied dramatically with juveniles, our worst offending cohort.

The dots incorrectly joined by this cohort when a Police Station is closed is that there are no Police working, any deterrence evaporates, leaving in their minds a free kick, often to some poor victim’s head.

But how do we fix this problem and reduce the pressure on the Police trying to do their job in a Force that is so poorly manned, while also addressing the exodus of police to the North and the lack of service capacity here?

Improving conditions for the approximately 18,000 members in this State is not the solution. Victoria Police have one of the best employment conditions in Australia, and we would argue that this likely compares favourably internationally.

Having achieved all these conditions, there is little, if any, effort to promote just how good they are.

The current state of IR with Victoria Police is akin to the Hawthorne experiment by Psychologist Elton Mayo, but applied force-wide.

Known as the Hawthorne effect, Mayo demonstrated that merely improving physical conditions was not itself the primary factor in increasing productivity and, in turn, job satisfaction.

The studies highlighted the importance of social factors, teamwork, and improved communication in motivating employees; shifting focus from purely physical or financial incentives to the socio-psychological aspects of work was the key.  

There is, however, a broad spectrum of suitable people who could be used to relieve the pressure on members, enhancing the one thing that industrial action cannot achieve: job satisfaction.

The final thing to consider is a lowering of standards and the negative impact this could and will have on the workforce. Creating a dual approach to standards and driving a substantial wedge between those who achieved the standards and those who joined via a lowered standard.

Any missteps professionally or socially within the Force by members who joined when standards are lowered will have an immediate and negative impact on the member. ‘You were not good enough.’

Long-term pain for short-term gain is never a good strategy and reflects poorly on police management, which is unable to fix the problem.

The lowering of standards has a negative effect, even if subtle, on all former and serving members who have achieved the normal high standard. They are very proud of this, but it has been undermined by management’s inability to address the problem.

There is also a risk that members who join at a lower standard could be spurned by those who meet the higher standard, a second-grade Force.

The answer to this issue lies not just with effective recruiting to attract new members but with utilising the vast resource of former members who, for whatever reason, left the Force.

And they are not all geriatrics.

There would be a very large number of former Police Officers who resigned for family reasons, and now that their children are old enough, they would love to return to the Force in a limited capacity.

The advantages are substantial.

• These applicants would only need limited retraining to update.
• Their life experiences outside the Force bubble will make them better equipped for interpersonal public contacts.
• A substantial number of these re-appointees could offer the Force a substantial increase in resource capability and flexibility, relieving operational members from tasks of low risk for public order responses.
• The influx of these re-appointees could have a dramatic and positive effect on the public perception and the Force’s perception of the negative impact of increased job vacancies.

What is hidden from the Public, and perhaps not acknowledged by senior Police administrators, is the number of patrols that are not provided due to resource deficiencies.

The current imbroglio, rampant and climbing crime rates, substantial police exodus from the Force and poor recruiting, based on quantitative rather than qualitative principles, must be addressed as a major threat to the Force’s administration.

The Force cannot just cry poor to avoid addressing this problem. With over 1,000 current vacancies, those positions must be funded, or they wouldn’t be vacancies, but Force staffing reductions.

A cynic may suggest that the current situation is nothing more than a ‘clever way’ for the Government to reduce expenditure, irrespective of the adverse impact on the community.

With other public service jobs being slashed, there may well be an increased pool of suitable applicants for the Victoria Police.

The CAA calls on the Government to immediately implement a highly public recruiting drive to bring the Victoria Police staffing numbers up to authorised strength.

With crime rampant, the time for action is NOW.