Protests hit police shifts
"This is poor use of their invaluable skills and not what they want to be doing," says Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush.
More than 25,000 police shifts have been diverted to managing pro-Palestinian protests over the past two years, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush has revealed, as the state struggles with rising crime rates and stretched frontline resources.
According to The Australian, Bush said Victoria would have significantly less crime if those shifts were redirected to prevention efforts, as he announced a major police restructure designed to address youth crime, violent home invasions and resource constraints caused by ongoing protest activity.
“They have empathy and compassion for whatever their cause may be – not for us to judge. But what I ask is that they also have empathy and compassion for the people of Melbourne,” Bush said.
“If I took half of those 25,000 shifts and dedicated them to prevention, we’d have less crime.
“I do appeal to them, to think differently about how they do it.”
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