Responding to public safety, especially on public transport, is a key priority for Victoria Police. Only 37 per cent of people say they feel safe getting public transport at night.

So we have an opportunity like never before – to have 940 Protective Services Officers (PSOs) on our trains and at our train stations by the end of 2014 to make us feel safer. How is this a bad thing?

We haven’t started recruiting for our new PSOs yet. Currently PSOs undertake nine weeks of training and the current PSO role is a very different role to police recruits and police officers, as well as the new PSOs. Historically, the roles and responsibilities of PSOs were limited to providing security to government buildings and law courts.

The expanded model of training to start later this year will mean PSOs complete a 12 week course to train as transit PSOs. The revised PSO training includes an increased awareness in a number of areas, including conflict resolution and working in a dynamic environment with a high level of unpredictability with respect to vulnerable people such as youth and drug and alcohol affected people.

There are big differences in terms of what PSOs are able to do and what police do. PSOs won’t have all the powers police have but will be fully trained to be able to reduce crime, violence and anti-social behaviour in and around train stations.

We are currently developing a recruitment campaign to help us find people who want to become PSOs. We are looking for people who want to make a valuable contribution to the community by increasing public safety at train stations. They will be physically fit, effective at communicating with people from all walks of life and up for a challenge.

Share This Page