FRANKSTON will get two new unmarked police vehicles after Mornington Peninsula Shire reluctantly agreed to contribute funding.
At a council meeting last Monday week, Mornington Peninsula councillors voted to give $12,000 towards the cost of the new vehicles. Frankston Council has already chipped in with $30,000 for the initiative.
The decision split shire councillors, some of whom labelled it a cost-shifting exercise from Victoria Police.
Cr David Gibb was strongly against the idea, saying it wasn't the shire's role to help out police or the City of Frankston.
"This is not a council responsibility. It is a state government department and they should be providing the funding," Cr Gibb said.
"The jobs will be prioritised and most of the work will be in Frankston. We will not see the vehicles on the southern peninsula.
"Frankston Council has not played ball with us in the past, so why should we support them?"
The vehicles, costing a total of $57,000, come under the community response engagement and social tasking program aimed at reducing and preventing crimes.
The Rotary Club of Frankston contributed $10,000 to the initiative and the remaining $5000 was supplied by Victoria Police and and local Lions clubs.
Frankston mayor Brian Cunial said he had no idea what Cr Gibb was referring to. "I am really looking forward to this partnership," Cr Cunial said. "It is a great community initiative. It is good to see support from both councils and community groups."
He said the program would be assessed after two years. "We will see how it goes and what sort of benefits come from it. I think there will be enormous benefits to the community and it is well worthy of a two-year trial. We want to help police to do their job as well as they can."
Acting Superintendent for Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula, Jeff Millar, said the unmarked station wagons would be split evenly between Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula.
"We will have officers from both areas working with the vehicles and there will be one in each locality," Acting Superintendent Millar said. "The only time they won't be in those areas will be when we have both crews working together for a particular operation."
He said the project represented an important partnership between the councils and police. "We are all trying to improve the community and we are very appreciative to both councils for the cars. We think a lot of good will come out of it for both communities."
Acting Superintendent Millar said the cars would help police carry out duties related to crime prevention, licensing issues, public order and community behaviour. The vehicles are due to arrive in Frankston within the next fortnight.
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