{"id":18962,"date":"2026-05-26T19:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/18962\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:39:07","slug":"reception-hours-slashed-at-police-stations-in-melbournes-outer-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/18962\/","title":{"rendered":"Reception hours slashed at police stations in Melbourne’s outer-north"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria Police is defending a decision to cut the hours police stations are open to the public in Melbourne’s booming outer north, arguing the move will mean more police on the road.<\/p>\n

From this weekend, reception counter hours at Mernda, Mill Park, Whittlesea and Epping police stations will be reduced.<\/p>\n

At Mernda, the move will see the police station reception counter cut from five days a week to just two.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a Victoria Police spokesperson said the police stations will not be closing, with officers still working there, just not at the counter.<\/p>\n

“These changes will not impact the 24\/7 response we provide \u2014 in fact, it will boost it by adding extra police vehicles on the road when the community need us the most,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

They said police officers taken from admin duties were able to boost proactive operations in the community.<\/p>\n

“This includes Operation Plaza, which sees police patrol Epping Plaza, Uni Hill Bundoora and Westfield Plenty Valley to engage with retailers and ensure public order,” they said.<\/p>\n

“We have also been running Operation Renegade at Mernda train station alongside Protective Services Officers to deter anti-social behaviour and boost commuter safety.”<\/p>\n

In March, 22-year-old Aiden Becker was allegedly murdered at Mernda station<\/a> while trying to protect a 14-year-old boy.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The Police Association says the decision highlights a lack of police in the state. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n

Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said the reduction in hours was disappointing.<\/p>\n

“This highlights the desperate situation we have been confronting for some time in regards to the severe lack of police we have in Victoria,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Tax-paying Victorians and Victorian families deserve a full-time police force, not a part-time one. But in lieu of the 1,507 vacancies we have on the front line, that’s what they’re getting.”<\/p>\n

Wendy Lovell, a Liberal MP for Northern Victoria, reiterated the opposition’s plan to recruit 3,000 extra police.<\/p>\n

She said they would open Mernda, Epping and Mill Park police stations to the public 24\/7.<\/p>\n

“Under Labor, crime is up, but police stations are closing because Jacinta Allan has failed to fix the staffing crisis,” she said<\/p>\n

“This is unacceptable for the community who need a local police station where they can find safe refuge.”<\/p>\n

Premier Jacinta Allan said Victoria had the largest police force in the nation, and it was expanding.<\/p>\n

Ms Allan said the government supported the police force’s decision.<\/p>\n

“This is an active operational decision that’s been made by the chief commissioner, and we’re supporting him with additional resources to do this work,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria Police is defending a decision to cut the hours police stations are open to the public in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18575,1646,260,18574,1047,18576,7738,18573],"class_list":["post-18962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-hours","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-melbourne","tag-open","tag-police","tag-shortage","tag-staff","tag-stations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}