ad

Visable presence

Visable presence

As this is my first article for Southbank Local News (SLN) I thought I should introduce myself to you all.

My name is Sen-Sgt Steve Bills and I am the station commander at Southbank Police Station.

Southbank Police Station falls under the Melbourne East Local Area Command (LAC) which is lead by Inspector Craig Peel, who is based at the Melbourne East Police Station in Flinders Lane, and we are part of Division 1 of North West Metro Region, which essentially covers all of the City of Melbourne and City of Yarra.

Probably not unsurprisingly to readers is that a large part of our focus in the Southbank response zone is on public order and dealing with the consequences of alcohol and drug use.

Having said that, just like the state crime rate, the crime rate in Southbank has fallen over the last year, with a particularly large drop in robberies in our response zone.

But don’t think we are resting on our laurels – we will continue to focus on offences that impact on the community such as robberies and assaults.

With Southbank being part of the larger CBD and with the increasing number of licensed premises there are significant challenges for us in these areas.

And, whilst we are focusing on prevention and enforcement, we will only have a significant impact with the help of the community both in assisting us to identify offenders but also in using their situational awareness to reduce the chances of some of these offences occurring.

Being aware of your surrounds, who and what is around you and not falling into the trap of being totally distracted by your phone, will reduce your chances of becoming a victim and, after all, that should be everyone’s main aim.

With an intelligence-led approach, we are trying to create a more visible presence during the peak times which is why you will generally see more police out on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights than you will during the day.

Finally, I’d like to invite anyone that has any questions around policing in the Southbank Area to send them to me at [email protected].

I will try to answer as many as I can and will print some in future additions of SLN.

  Quote for the day: Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. - Erma Bombeck   Snr. Sgt Steve Bills Station Commander - Southbank Police Station

Join our Facebook Group
ad