MEMBER for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell has tabled a petition in parliament with 2257 signatures calling on the government to ensure that the Mernda Police Station is fully staffed and returns to being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It was evident that community members were outraged with the decision to reduce the opening hours of the station to just two days a week.
Mernda station only opened in 2017 as a 24/7 police station and was promised extra staff to serve the growing community.
Last year the station was closed for weekends and restricted to 10am-6pm on weekdays.
Last week, the hours were cut even further to Tuesday and Thursday from 10am-6pm and all other times are closed.
The additional cuts have left the community disgraced and even recently violence has been prominent in the town.
Only three months ago local man Aiden Becker was allegedly stabbed and killed at Mernda station protecting a 14-year-old-boy who was being targeted and assaulted by a group of people with weapons.
“Residents of Mernda and Doreen fear for their safety because crime is rising under Labor, but police stations are closing because Jacinta Allan has failed to fix the staffing shortage.” Ms Lovell said.
“The government must listen to the almost 3,700 locals who signed this petition and reopen Mernda police station.”
Even when the Mernda police station was open 24/7, the police RARELY, if ever, responded to emergency calls. We had an attempted home invasion while renting in Doreen — a very large wooden door was kicked so hard (I heard the person running and jumping before hand — but police didn’t show up for over 12 hours (after I had used wooden scraps, etc., to nail a nearly broken door shut since the lock was busted). They ended up filing it as mischievious prop. damage (likely done by “teenagers”) even though I heard the perps drive up, tap on a glass pane a few times (the first time woke us up) — to see if snyone was home, I’m sure, and then do the running and jump-kick to the door. That was in 2018ish. Since then, the cops have _never_ responded to crazed, seriously reckless, hoon drivers — not just cars burning rubber, but motorcyclists doing wheelies near Woolies on Mernda Drive 3/different times) and down Breadalbane, a new favorite racing strip. There was also a break-in a few years ago, when a group of guys — caught on CCTV — worked their way down our street until they found an open door. The cops, when asked if they could patrol more often, said they didn’t know. The entire police system is broken, with employees taught to treat the job as if theynhave Bankers hours, putting most of the crew on day shift and having them do things like serve court papers, which is supposed to be the domain of the Sheriff’s dept (when I saw two Mernda police station constables doing this, the male was sitting in the vehicle scrolling his iphone while the female knocked on the door). This “busy work”, done during day hours, is a large part of the “domestic problems” police claim tske up so much of their time (even though it isn’t i their purview). In the longrun, better management – more of the cops should work evening and midnight shifts — and better training is also needed.