By Alesha Capone
A petition calling for a police station to be built in Wyndham Vale or Manor Lakes, signed by 1227 people, has been tabled in state Parliament.
Western Metropolitan MP Catherine Cumming tabled the Legislative Council electronic petition earlier this month.
The petition, started by Wyndham Vale father Kanwar Singh last year, said that Wyndham Vale and Manor Lakes were “in need of a police station due to its increasing crime rate alongside its population growth”.
The petition stated that in 2020, the crime rate in Wyndham Vale rose 29.8 per cent, with thefts, assaults, burglaries and other forms of street crimes comprising the majority of total incidents reported.
“Assaults and other crimes are often unreported due to the huge effort to travel to visit the nearest police station added to the time involved in making a report,” the document stated.
It also said that although the population of Wyndham Vale and Manor Lakes was expected to double in the next six years, “successive governments have had no plans to build a new police station in these areas”.
In December, Mr Singh he said that when he moved to Wyndham Vale three years earlier, he felt the suburb was safe for children – including his young daughter – to play outside in.
But after a string of crimes last year, including an assault and robbery at a local playground, Mr Singh said he felt “something needed to be done”.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said the community could be assured that there is “sufficient resourcing in the Wyndham area”.
A state government spokesperson said it has provided more than $45 million to build a new 24-hour Wyndham Police Complex as part of the broader Wyndham Justice Precinct.
“The new facility will provide the hardworking police officers in the region the facilities they need to support the Wyndham community, and has been designed to support the huge population growth planned across Melbourne’s west, including Wyndham Vale and Manor Lakes,” the spokesperson said.
