Focus area: Partnerships

Connect with partners to respond to local issues

Community engagement is central to how Victoria Police serves its local communities and creates lasting partnerships that increase public trust and confidence in police.

By committing resources to collaborative responses, we are building on successful programs developed in partnership with the Aboriginal community. For example, we are developing refreshed Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training and expanding the Aboriginal Youth Cautioning Program to increase capacity and uptake by children and young people. Introduced in 2019, the program draws upon local Aboriginal culture, knowledge, and an enhanced police cautioning approach to divert Aboriginal children and young people from further contact with the justice system. Five dedicated Aboriginal Cautioning Support Officers will be employed to oversee the daily operation of the program and support its state-wide expansion.

Our new strategy to respond to child and youth offending aligns us with the strategic direction of key government partners.

We recognise that being better prepared for climate change will benefit community safety and better equip police services. Over the next four years, we will embark on implementing a climate change strategy to better prepare and respond to the changing nature of emergencies, and to manage assets with a lower carbon footprint.

Collaborate with partners to enhance crime prevention and reduce harm

Victoria Police works with partners to respond to and implement government-led reforms on priorities such as youth justice, bail, major crime and the minimum age of criminal responsibility. We are working with Corrections Victoria to respond to child offenders who are under an electronic monitoring court order and have breached their conditions of bail. By supporting custody management operations and therapeutic justice approaches, such as Drug Court programs, we work towards enhanced rehabilitation and addressing the underlying causes of crime.

Our strong partnerships with children and youth service providers and other agencies are supporting Victoria’s critical youth justice reforms. To ensure that matters involving children can be dealt with quickly and fairly, we work in partnership with the Children’s Court of Victoria to provide an after-hours remand court. Our work with youth workers delivering joint after-hours outreach programs will be expanded to more locations aimed to reduce child and youth offending. Additional support will be deployed through Youth Crime Coordinators and the Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Project, to increase early intervention measures such as referrals to legal and social supports.

Road trauma has a significant impact on communities. To achieve the government objective of zero deaths and serious injuries on Victorian roads, we are working with the community and road safety partners to promote safe behaviour and road rule compliance. Our active and visible presence through general and specific deterrence, guided by our Victoria Police Road Safety Strategy 2024–28 will continue to address behaviours that contribute to road trauma.

Recommendations from the 2021 Review of the Private Security Industry informs our work with key stakeholders to introduce the single security licensing scheme and develop the Private Security Industry Code of Conduct recently enshrined in the Private Security Act 2024.

Reducing the harm caused by family violence, sexual offending and child abuse remains our focus and will continue to drive our work with sector partners through the implementation of the Victoria Police Family Violence, Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Strategy 2024–2029.

Invest in and grow strategic partnerships

Strong and sustainable partnerships help us deliver better equipment, technology and infrastructure for our people and better services to our local communities.

Through collaboration with more than 500 partners across community, government and non-government organisations, private sector and academia, we continue to co-design and co-deliver services that prevent and reduce crime and keep Victorians safe.

As a member of the Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum we are supporting the fulfillment of the Police and Aboriginal Communities’ Protocols Against Family Violence to deliver localised Aboriginal-led initiatives and actions.

A new artificial intelligence (AI) framework will enable us to explore the risks and opportunities presented by emerging AI technologies and applications.

We also continue to support the implementation of a national firearms register.