Victoria Police has today moved to reassure the community that it is not cutting police numbers.

The comments follow inaccurate claims in the media that Victoria Police is reducing the number of officers on the beat in order to meet budgets.

Information about a reduction in police numbers currently being circulated is not accurate and Victoria Police would like to make it categorically clear that we are not reducing police numbers.

As an organisation we have for many years created a pool of unfunded positions to allow us to move people around the organisation, and fill positions much easier.

Our existing HR IT system could not function properly without these unfunded vacant positions being created.

Under our new HR system, there is no longer a need for us to maintain these unfunded positions or hold back any unfilled vacancies. We are therefore undertaking the administrative process of removing the positions.

This process has unfortunately created a perception among some police officers and the community that they are going to lose actual members.

This is not the case. No police station will close as a result of this administrative process. We are not losing police. Instead this process will enable us to see where the true vacancies are.

We are funded for 11,100 police and we have the 11,100. We will continue to reach our targets in the future. We are working towards the commitment of having 11,250 police by July 2010 and we are on track to achieve this commitment.

We know the community want a visible police presence in the community and we will continue to use our resources as efficiently as possible to provide an effective police service.

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