Bellarine Peninsula communities are angry at changes that are rolling out in their area because of blue paper released today. Photo: Jason South
The Bellarine Peninsula has already had a sneak peek at Ken Lay's new force and doesn't like it.
For the first time last summer, Queenscliff's police numbers were not doubled to meet the tourist influx, so the council hired private security to patrol its caravan park and beaches.
''Suddenly we had this lack of police presence,'' Queenscliff mayor Helene Cameron said. ''We had to employ security ourselves at the caravan park because you want people to … feel safe.''
And for the past year too, people in the town and in the nearby towns of Portarlington and Drysdale have watched as their police were shifted away and based at the larger station at Ocean Grove.
Chief Commissioner Lay's blue paper plans to base police from larger stations in ''supersites'' and have ''shop-fronts'' and ''self-serve kiosks'' instead of stations in small towns, where police would be mobile instead of being based behind a desk.
''The community are pretty angry about this,'' Bellarine MP Lisa Neville said.
''This model will be detrimental for communities in Bellarine.''
She said police for Queenscliff, Drysdale and Portarlington were now at the Bellarine Police Station in Ocean Grove to backfill gaps in the Geelong roster and away from their towns.
''What they've lost is an understanding of what role community policing can play, particularly in regional communities,'' she said.
''[The police in small towns] know the kids who are at risk, they know the families.''
A petition against taking police away from the towns is has already gained more than 500 signatures.
Portarlington Community Association president Monica Hayes said she was alarmed at the absence of police in her town.
''We don't even see the police cars or police personnel in the street,'' she said.
''I feel angry that the local police who are dedicated and committed to community policing are having that aspect of their professional role eroded.
''There doesn't seem to be any respect for … an invaluable style of policing.''