General News
21 October, 2025
Police restructure to address crime
A proposed restructure of Victoria Police aims to free up police from administration and refocus on the frontline, all in an effort to reduce crime in the state.
Last week, Chief Commissioner Mike Bush announced a package of reforms that he said will see tens of thousands of police hours diverted to the frontline each year.
At its heart, the restructure proposes to slim down the executive team enabling a reinvestment that the organisation said will more effectively tackle crime.
The proposed restructure would see a reduction in the number of centralised Commands and Departments and an elevated focus on crime prevention and partnerships, according to the organisation.
Chief Commissioner Bush said Victoria’s record-breaking crime wave requires a “fundamental shift” in how Victoria Police operate.
“We need to change how we police, so that we can get ahead of the criminals and stop the offending before it happens,” he said.
“Prevention and deterrence, these are the hallmarks of our strategy moving forwards as we seek to drive our crime rate down.”
He said that Victoria Police haven’t been giving their frontline members the support they need.
“While specialist services within Victoria Police have benefitted from considerable investment — and necessarily so — our general duties officers, the backbone of our organisation, have not received the same levels of focus or investment,” he said.
“They are loaded past their capacity, burdened by bureaucracy and systems that don’t talk to each other. Our structures do not support them as effectively as is needed and nor do our back-of-house functions, technology or processes.”
He said that the state’s police collectively spend more than 4000 hours a day, or 1.4 million hours a year, staffing reception counters at police stations.
“This is poor use of their invaluable skills and it’s not what they want to be doing,” he said.
“We must get more police — your police — out of their stations and onto the streets where they can respond to and deter crimes.”
The changes come as part of a broader review whose second phase will commence early next year.
According to the organisation, it will propose “further, deep and tangible changes” to how they operate.
The restructure is part of a broader program, the Victoria Police Uplift Program, which looks to change how Victoria Police operate.
Among the changes is a trial of replacing sworn officers from police station reception counter duties with alternate staff.
Victoria Police said this will launch in three to six months and, if a success, will be rolled out statewide.
The organisation also said a dedicated team of admin staff, including former police officers, will be trialled in stations to free members up from their paperwork following an arrest. If a success, this will be rolled out across the state too.
“We are doing this because it is clear — we can’t keep doing things the same way and expecting different results,” he said.
“If we are to prevent crime, then it starts with properly resourcing and enabling our frontline police officers.”