A CRESWICK family is calling for round-the-clock police presence after a frightening attempted burglary in the early hours of Sunday morning.
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Jake Wright and Sasha Cousins returned home to their new house - which they have only been living in since Easter - when they realised there were a couple of people trying to get inside their house.
Mr Wright called the police in distress four times throughout the 45-minute period during which the figures with a crowbar were trying to gain access to the property.
"Knowing that they knew we were inside and they kept trying to get in was scary," Mr Wright said.
After hours, incidents in Creswick are responded to by officers from Bacchus Marsh as Creswick is zoned into the Moorabool Police Service Area, which encompasses Moorabool Shire, Hepburn Shire and Golden Plains.
It is about a 45-minute drive from Bacchus Marsh to Creswick.
The community is getting together now because we have absolutely had enough. Hoons, cars constantly being stolen and dumped in the bush, stuff getting taken - it's constant because everybody knows that after a certain time we aren't manned until officers from Bacchus Marsh can get here.
- Lisa Cousins
A spokesperson for Victoria Police said it appeared the supposed severity of the call, which was recorded as "suspicious loitering" rather than "attempted aggravated burglary" could have contributed to a delay in police response.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services Lisa Neville said while any incident of crime was concerning, data from the Crime Statistics Agency showed there was a 7.4 per cent reduction in the rate of aggravated burglary and that Victoria Police have the resources they need to continue to drive the offending down.
"Crime has fallen in Creswick in recent years, with the number of offences falling more than 33 per cent in the past two years - but there's more work that needs to be done," she said.
But Ripon MP Louise Staley said the the issues around Creswick's police station not being manned at night had been ongoing for many years.
"We said we would fix the problem to accommodate longer hours [but] the government has not chosen to take that up," she said.
"Whenever there is a spate of in this case aggravated burgs, or people terrified in their homes or a spate of vehicle thefts - this can range from anti-social behaviour to being something absolutely terrifying - we get some additional short term patrols but the government doesn't do anything."
She said a way needs to be found to link Creswick with Ballarat so when police are called, they are only 15 minutes away.
Moorabool Police service area will receive 10 new general duties officers as part of the latest police allocation to service the local government areas of Hepburn Shire, Moorabool Shire and Golden Plains.
Ballarat will have 15 new police officers allocated.
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