Police to host community forum in Torquay

THE Torquay community is being invited to meet their local police officers at a free event next week.

Victoria Police is hosting the Torquay Community Forum as an open platform for them to discuss policing, local crime trends and answer questions from the public.

Everyone is invited to attend and hear from police about what’s going on in Torquay.

“It’s basically just a very informal day for the community to come down catch up with local police members,” Sergeant Tony Groves from Torquay police said.

“If they’ve got any questions or any concerns, they can raise them.”

Sgt Groves said the new Mobile Police Station for the Western Region – one of only three such stations in the state – would also be at the forum.

“We’ll bring it down and set it up so people can come there and have a look through it; it’s all brand new technology.

“That’s used for missing persons out in the bush and things like that.

“It’s a bit like the campervan-style setup but it can link into the cameras around Geelong, the City of Greater Geelong cameras, we can get the Air Wing footage on it – so we use it for all the major things.

“It’ll be used for events, It’ll be used for emergencies if facilities at a police station stopped working for some reason.”

He is hoping for big numbers on the day.

“In the past, I’ve done quite a few of them in Geelong, but it just really depends. Sometimes you get half a dozen people, sometimes you get 20 people.”

Sgt Groves said the intention was to run the forums every two or three months.

“We’ll just try to run them consistently from now on, to give people a chance to pop down.

“It might be something that people have always wondered about but wouldn’t necessarily bother a police station over it but if they just wanted some some advice, they can pop down; or just come down and meet their local members.”

The Victoria Police Torquay Community Forum will be held at Doc Hughes, 23 The Esplanade, Torquay, on August 4 from noon-1pm.

Entry is free, no RSVPs required.