Race crime off Victoria Police radar
VICTORIA Police may have pledged to put more police in operational positions, but it looks like it will come at the expense of fighting racial vilification and identity-based crime.
VICTORIA Police may have pledged to put more police in operational positions, but it looks like it will come at the expense of fighting racial vilification and identity-based crime.
At a meeting with the Police and Community Multicultural Advisory Committee (PACMAC) last month, Commander Ashley Dickinson revealed an internal review has recommended canning the force’s Multicultural Advisory Unit.
The AJN understands that decision was made after a consultation process, which was not open to the public, and which included a meeting with only three ethnic representatives, including one from the Jewish community.
Commander Dickinson told the meeting officers working with the Multicultural Advisory Unit, and other divisions in the Operations Coordination Department, would be redeployed to other areas or “declared surplus”.
He added this would end the “coordinated and centrally managed approach to our work”.
A spokesperson for Victoria Police did not deny police were considering dissolving the peak multicultural unit, just weeks after the Federal Government put an increased focus on working multiculturalism and stamping out racism.
“The future of the Operations Co-ordinations Department is still undergoing a review process, so no definite decisions have been made at this stage,” the spokesperson said.
“Victoria Police highly values its relationships with multi-faith and multicultural communities and will ensure that these relationships continue in the future, regardless of any potential changes that may result from this review.”
The decision is a blow to the Jewish community in particular, which has worked for a number of years to educate Victoria Police about issues unique the religion and to build ties to fight identity-based crime.
Dinners that have brought together community leaders and police top brass, joint celebrations of Jewish holidays and open lines of communication with senior police officers are all now in jeopardy.
Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, a Victoria Police chaplain, said he knows other faith leaders are similarly concerned about the possible end of the Multicultural Advisory Unit.
“The Jewish community in particular has seen tremendous benefit from the Multicultural Advisory Unit, which has been dedicated to the multicultural cause for so many years and has done such as incredible job of it along the way,” he said. “So much has been invested; so much could be lost.”
Marcia Pinskier, a member of PACMAC and a commissioner with the Victorian Multicultural Commissioner, said she is concerned about the loss of an “outstanding centralised resource”.
She called on the Baillieu Government to seriously consider whether it can afford to dissolve the unit.
“I think Victoria Police has a focus on providing services on the street at this point in time and I think the Baillieu Government needs to have the acumen and initiative to recognise that the services provided by the Multicultural Advisory Unit have been outstanding and should be retained in their present form.”
In terms of resources, she said the unit was a “drop in the bucket” for Victoria Police, especially when measured in terms of its outcomes, and it is “incomprehensible” the force is considering dumping the grouping.
NAOMI LEVIN
Photo: Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland. Photo: AJN
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