Victoria Police is committed to supporting the community and enhancing public safety and expect community members should be able to move about freely and feel safe no matter the time of day.
Bairnsdale Police acknowledges this isn’t always the case due to the behaviours or actions of others.
Just last week a mischievous community member barged through the back door of a local business before wreaking havoc in the male bathroom. Many other local businesses have reported threatening behaviour towards staff members from anti-social community members.
“While some community members have contacted police and reported issues in the CBD which we appreciate, we are also finding that many don’t report issues to us for various reasons,” Bairnsdale Police Acting Senior Sergeant, Mitch Capodiferro, said.
“I encourage all community members, both individuals or retailers, to contact police and report safety concerns or offences because we find it’s challenging to help if we don’t know about it.
“I want to reassure the community that we are committed to providing assistance and addressing community issues and we can also provide an array of supports to people with the assistance of our valued community partner agencies.”
The Bairnsdale community is supported by the East Gippsland Local Safety Committee whose membership includes Bairnsdale Police, East Gippsland Shire Council, Bairnsdale Chamber of Commerce, Gippsland Lakes Complete Health and other key partner agencies.
“Together we work collaboratively to address local safety concerns which are both raised by our community members or detected by one of the many agencies on the Local Safety Committee,” Act Snr Sgt Capodiferro said.
Current targets of the Local Safety Committee include addressing anti-social behaviour in the CBD and occurrences of shop thefts.
IMAGE: Local police are calling on community members to report issues in the region’s central business districts to help them limit crime and unruly behaviour.
