IT is difficult to attract police officers to one-person police stations in the country, according to Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay.
Speaking in Melbourne yesterday, Mr Lay said it was always hard to attract people to regional police stations, especially ones where the officer was the sole law enforcer in the town.
The Ballarat region has nine one-person police stations, of which almost all of them are currently manned.
A replacement for retiring Leading Senior Constable Gary Discher at Learmonth will soon be sought by Victoria Police, but all other stations currently have their own officers.
Speaking of his experiences as a policeman in Gippsland, Mr Lay said there was not the same attitude towards policing in country areas as there used to be.
“We used to line up to go to the bush, but not so now,” he said.
“It’s much more difficult to attract people to the stations, particularly the one-manners.”
Mr Lay said it was useless forcing officers to take up positions at one-person stations against their will.