Our focus in 2024-25

Spotlights

Continue to deliver consistent high-quality police responses to family violence, sexual offences and child abuse

We are implementing the next Family Violence, Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Strategy 2024–2029, replacing the previous strategy Policing Harm, Upholding the Right 2018–2023.

The new strategy will carry forward our previous reform work. It aims to consistently deliver high-quality police responses to family violence, sexual offences and child abuse, within a sector-wide approach, to enhance community safety.

This strategy also introduces an outcomes approach through our newly developed outcomes framework for family violence, sexual offences, and child abuse. The approach will measure success by focusing on quality outcomes rather than demand-based or output-focused performance measures.

Respond to child and youth offending and ensure that children and young people at risk have access to the support they need

Renewing our focus on connections with the community and partner agencies to respond to child and youth offending ensures that children and young people at risk have access to the support they need.

We are collaborating with our partner agencies to implement government-led reforms on critical issues, such as:

• youth justice
• bail
• major crime, and
• raising of the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

The Embedded Youth Outreach Program (EYOP) is being expanded to more locations to engage more children and young people. EYOP pairs police with specialist youth workers to provide a therapeutic response to young people encountering police and to identify opportunities for early intervention.

We are recruiting and deploying Youth Crime Coordinators, through the Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Project (YCPEIP), to identify at-risk children and young people and intervene early to interrupt the offending pathway. The goal of YCPEIP is to reduce rates of re-offending among young people by diverting eligible young offenders away from the criminal justice system, minimising their contact with police and the courts.

We are launching the Child Victim and Offender Strategy 2024–2029, outlining our response to prevent and respond to harm to children and by children. The strategy complements the Victoria Police Youth Gang Strategy 2023–2026 and aligns with the principles of Keeping You Safe.

Improve the way we interact and work with Aboriginal people

Keeping You Safe reinforces Victoria Police’s strategic direction of working with the Aboriginal community in the spirit of self-determination to reduce over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system.

We are contributing to the state’s Treaty preparedness as required by Department of Premier and Cabinet.

In May 2023, the Yoorrook Justice Commissioners presented a Shield to the Chief Commissioner of Police as a symbol of the Commission’s expectation of change by Victoria Police in the way we engage with and police Aboriginal people. In May 2024 we unveiled the Shield in the foyer of the Victoria Police Centre and published the Chief Commissioner’s Statement of Commitment to give effect to his undertaking to the Commission in response to this expectation.

The Statement of Commitment sets out 79 actions across three broad themes to bring about transformational change:

• monitoring and accountability
• cultural competence and human rights capability
• human rights and cultural rights compliance.

Also in May 2024, the Chief Commissioner of Police apologised for Victoria Police’s role in the removal of Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generations from their families and communities. This apology reflects our organisation’s commitment to a genuine truth-telling process.

We continue to engage with and respond to the Yoorrook Justice Commission to support a program of work aligned to the objectives of the truth-telling process. The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s accountability-themed hearings are planned to commence in late 2024 where Victoria Police is likely to be called to discuss progress on the commitments made in May 2023.