STATE opposition leader Ted Baillieu has called for more police on Ballarat's streets and a zero tolerance approach to the "rising tide of crime and violence".Mr Baillieu visited Ballarat yesterday in the wake of increasing violence in the city.He said there needed to be more police on the streets to change the "culture"."We cannot normalise bashings, we cannot normalise anti-social behaviour," he said."This isn't just one-off incidents, this is a continuing pattern and we have to recognise it."Mr Baillieu said victims needed support "from the top" to come forward."We need to encourage victims to step up, come forward and have these crimes reported, so the process of changing the culture and stamping this (issue) out can start," he said.But a spokesman for Police Minister Bob Cameron said it was inappropriate for politicians to interfere with operational police decisions."(The Liberals) can only ... stand back and criticise the efforts of local police in Ballarat, who are working with traders and the community to tackle this problem," he said.Ballarat East MLA Geoff Howard met this week with Bridge Mall traders, police and youth workers to hear experiences first hand and look at ways to address the problem."Police are tackling these issues head on, by providing a greater policing presence in the mall and performing targeted operations," he said.But he said police alone could not solve the problem and youth at risk were also being referred to programs including Centacare's Start Over program and Link Up at the Ballarat Learning Exchange.