PLEASE FIND below the contents of a letter they won’t publish in the newspapers.

If you concur with these views, I urge you forward to as many members of the community that you can.

After all, you didn’t write it.

Dear Editor,

I write as a police officer who has been a dedicated member of the Victoria Police for twenty years. Before I express my serious concerns about the Victoria Police as an organization, I feel it prudent to qualify my position. I have been an ‘operational’ police officer my entire career. I have worked at busy police stations and criminal investigation units in the north western and inner suburbs for many years. I have risen through the ranks on my merits and through sheer dedication, professionalism and commitment to community service. I have been shot at, spat at, assaulted and suffered the anguish of the risk of blood born diseases from needle a stick injury and other exposure to bodily fluids. Yet through all this, I remain a dedicated police officer, committed to community service. I am a member of The Police Association (TPA); however I am neither a member of the TPA executive, a delegate or hold any position within the TPA. Having qualified my position let me get to the point of this letter, my anguish over the sad, deplorable state of the Victoria Police under Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

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If a truly independent body were engaged to report to the community on the state of the Victoria Police I am confident they would find the following:

• Morale at the lowest point it has been in at least twenty years.

• A totally unnecessary restructuring of the crime department which has lead a mass exodus of experienced investigators, the liquidation of specialized squads and to members proven to be totally incompetent making life and death decisions which has already seen victim nearly killed as a result.

• A new promotional system that blatantly bias in favor of women regardless of merit. The hypocrisy of Nixon’s policy of a fair and equitable workforce is palpable and is an insult to all the dedicated, professional, experienced policewomen of the Victoria Police.

• Constant pressure on divisional, district and station managers to achieve higher outputs with fewer resources whilst hundreds of members are seconded to long term ‘project work’ in the ivory tower that is the Victoria Police Centre.

• A failure to deliver on a policy of dealing with minor breaches of discipline and conduct as a local management issues rather than through a heavy handed punitive process.

• A manipulation of crime statistics to promote a reduction in crime under the leadership of Chief Commissioner Nixon.

• A recruitment policy that favors people from under represented groups over more qualified and suitable applicants. The Victoria Police is already starting to feel effects of a high attrition rate amongst junior members as a direct result of this policy.

• A failure to support members who fell through a ‘loop hole’ in injury compensation legislation even though the government has given the Chief Commissioner carte blanch to provide an one off, ex gratis payment.

• A failure to support members who are being subjected to a ‘witch-hunt’ by the Office of Police Integrity which actively canvasses complaints from recidivist criminals from in and outside of jail.

These are just some of the issues that are not only of concern to me but also to the vast majority of the experienced members of the Victoria Police. The current situation has led to total disillusionment amongst members and will ultimately see huge decline in the standard of policing in this state.

How prudent that Chief Commissioner Nixon replace photographs of her honored and well respected predecessors (disgracefully referred to by Commander Kevin Scott as “dour old faces -- dour old male faces”) with artwork, one which pieces depicts a dust storm. Commander Scott says this is appropriate in a time of drought. I would argue it is more appropriate because it is akin to the thick fog that surrounds the heads of police command in this state!

The Victorian community will suffer the effects of the decline of their police force under Christine Nixon for years to come. Nixon will most likely have moved on before these effects receive full exposure by which time it will be too late to reverse the trend. The impact of those effects being a dramatic decline in levels of community safety.

Sleep safely Victoria, while you still can.

Anonymous.

*Whilst I would love to put my name to this letter, Victoria Police internal policy and regulations prevent members from commenting publicly about police policy or criticizing police command in any way and those that do will be dealt with severely, hence the necessity for me to remain anonymous. After, all I still have to put food on the table!

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