VICTORIA. — The first group of police reservists to take over counter duties at stations begins training later this month.
More than 450 former police officers have now applied to be part of the initiative, which aims to free up serving officers to be out in the community.
Expressions of interest have surpassed 650.
The inaugural reservists group – comprising 25 ex-police – will begin training at the Victoria Police Academy on July 20.
They will be deployed to police stations the following week.
Rolling squads will follow every few weeks until the end of the year.
The training is expected to take a week and will include refresher classes in a variety of disciplines identified as critical to the newly-created frontline support officer role.
It’s a major milestone in the program, which will see 200 reservists recruited in all.
They will perform a range of administrative duties at police station counters, including answering phones, helping with paperwork, signing statutory declarations, receiving exhibits into police custody and taking crime reports.
Reservists will be based at police stations performing reception counter duties across the state, including Victoria Police’s busiest stations.
