A friendly message from your local Senior Sergeant Adrian Bickley
Tuesday, 16th March 2021
“I am delighted to offer a short message to the BSafe Website as the Officer in Charge of policing services on the Bellarine.”
I think we all recognise the significant impact COVID-19 has had on every individual in Victoria and in saying that our local Bellarine communities through 2020 and into 2021. Your local police have all played a role in trying to ensure the Chief Health Officer, (CHO), restrictions have been complied with so that everyone is safe. From being rostered to perform duty at the “Ring of Steel’ traffic checkpoint on the Princes Highway last year as well as investigating reports regarding CHO restriction breaches to now working secondments in Melbourne to assist in providing police resourcing for the hotel quarantining program, the year from a policing perspective has been one like no other. As well, your local police have still provided the communities on the Bellarine with a policing service focussing on high visibility, crime and traffic enforcement as well as a better policing service for all communities.
With Portarlington Police Station opening permanently in December 2020 with its own dedicated police members, the police service to local communities has increased significantly.
Each community has had its own issues during the last twelve months but overall crime and road trauma has reduced across the Bellarine.
I would ask community members to help their police in certain areas though. Firstly, if you see something that requires police ‘now’ call 000. This gives your police the best chance of stopping a crime from being committed or catching an offender. Secondly, lock your homes and cars. The population on the Bellarine is growing and more and more people are moving here to enjoy the great lifestyle that comes with living here. However there is a need to recognise that the Bellarine Peninsula communities are not like what they were some twenty years ago. With more people can come more crime and road trauma. Don’t provide an opportunity for someone to commit a crime regarding your vehicle or your home…lock them and if you see somebody driving dangerously on the roads, call it in. Be vigilant in making the communities on the Bellarine safer by providing local police with the information they need to keep ‘you’ safe.
Bellarine and Portarlington Police look forward to providing their communities with a high standard of service as we move through 2021 and beyond.
Source: Adrian Bickley
Source: Caitlin Fraser
