Mildura Mayor Helen Healy joined high-level talks with newly appointed Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush yesterday, along with fellow Regional Cities Victoria (RCV) members, pressing for stronger collaboration to tackle rising crime and community safety concerns across regional Victoria.
The virtual meeting gave each RCV member council the opportunity to directly brief the Chief Commissioner on local safety concerns.
Mayor Healy said the meeting was a critical opportunity to put regional safety issues front and centre of Victoria Police’s agenda on the back of recently released crime statistics.
“It’s important that any changes to policing are not just city-based but include a focus on regional centres to ensure everyone, including our small towns and the retail sector, feels safe and that assistance from police, if required, is not far away,” she said.
Mayor Healy said while the latest crime statistics presented at yesterday morning’s meeting, prior to the Chief Commissioner joining, unfortunately revealed offences were up in all areas, it was encouraging to see a softening of certain trends compared to other regional areas.
“It was encouraging to see that youth crime statistics, mostly relating to retail theft, were nowhere near as high as some other regional cities,” she said.
Mayor Healy welcomed the Chief Commissioner’s commitment to engage with regional leaders and looked forward to productive discussions that ensure regional voices shape Victoria’s law-and-order priorities.
