Police Association secretary Ron Iddles says the new Ballarat West Police Station has led to a drain of resources from the city centre -with police relocated to fill positions at Ballarat West. 

“While modern police facilities – such as the new Ballarat West police station - are always welcome, it is unfortunate that no additional police resources have come into the region to adequately staff the new station,” Mr Iddles said.

“By virtue of the fact that all officers who staff Ballarat West have been redeployed straight from the Ballarat police station roster, means that there will be fewer police patrols in the region overall.”

Ballarat’s highest ranking police officer Superintendent Andrew Allen last week defended the station’s numbers, saying police had always been aware of the deployment model. 

Police minister Lisa Neville also defended the staffing, saying police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton had backed the numbers.

“Custody officers based at Ballarat Police Station are also helping free up our police to get back on the beat,” Ms Neville said.

Mr Iddles said police could not expect to drive down the city’s crime spike with current numbers. 

He said police now had new facilities to maintain, meaning the numbers available to provide a visible proactive presence had been eroded.

Superintendent Allen said he remained confident Ballarat had adequate numbers to man all three of the city’s stations.

“The staffing model was always incorporated as part of the additional 1700 police from some years ago,” Superintendent Allen said.

“We always knew we would be allocating  police to Ballarat North and Ballarat West and that’s been part of our staffing and forward planning.”

Mr Iddles claims the roster at the city’s major station is about half the level it should be. 

“Without more police for the region, having additional facilities to maintain, means there are fewer police to go out and patrol, and provide a visible and proactive police presence, which is proven to be the most effective deterrent against crime,” Mr Iddles said.

“The Ballarat police station roster is about half the level it should be because its numbers have been redeployed away from frontline duties to taskforces and to staff both Ballarat North and Ballarat West.”

Western Victoria MP Joshua Morris labelled the situation as “reshuffling of the decks”.

“As a result, Ballarat locals have a new police building, but no new police to protect them and their families.”