The $212 million Victoria Police Assistance Line, which will employ up to 250 people in the city, is based out of the Flecknoe building in Albert Street.

Assistance lines are already operating in other states across the nation, with the official opening of Victoria's contact centre following a four-month trial involving 300 police stations, which saw civilian call takers pick up 82,000 calls, freeing up approximately 7000 front line police hours.

The government expects the number of calls taken to spike to tens of thousands each year.

Acting Premier and Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Lisa Neville, said currently 30 per cent of calls made to 000 were considered to be non-urgent - incidents that require a police response but do not require lights and sirens - such as theft, property damage, noise complaints and neighbourhood disputes.

"If you ring a police station you will be given the option of connecting directly into the police assistance line or to a police officer at that station, so it's really a new addition to how people can get the support they need from Victoria Police as well as ensuring Victoria Police members are focused on the right jobs at the right time," she said.

"So now for the first time people will have a new opportunity to report crime and get the best response back - the right police officers who are needed to investigate that particular crime and make sure we utilise police resources appropriately."

During each shift, approximately 200 civilian call takers work alongside 32 police officers.

"We have made a deliberate decision to invest in jobs here in Ballarat. We know that often with regional employment and staff there is loyalty and people stay for the long term."

Acting Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said both the police assistance line and the online portal are a big step forward for the police and the community.

"When we speak about accessibility, the public will be able to ring up any time of the day, all year round, and be able to get a range of non-urgent police matters and general enquiries dealt with on the telephone."

He said the benefits would not just be felt by police but by all Victorians.

"We know that at our police stations where we have had this trial since February, there is a lessening of the workload of those on the counter. They don't need to take as many reports because they are being taken here at the contact centre so that's fantastic," he said.

"So by taking those [non-urgent calls] away and putting those into this contact centre, it means we will be increasing the response time for 000 calls and decreasing the demand [on police] from the public," he said.

"Often there is a big line at a police station - a big demand there - so this is good for police and frees up their time. It gives back policing hours to police to be proactive."

Watch the press conference here:

While launching the police assistance line, the Acting Premier and Acting Chief Commissioner also launched the third Community Safety Statement.

The police assistance line is a result of the first statement and the latest instalment outlines a number of new initiatives aiming to strengthen Victoria's police force and ensure police have the numbers, powers and technology to tackle the crime rate and a number of issues.

DNA TESTING

Police will have new powers around taking DNA samples from people suspected of committing indictable offences, just like how fingerprints are taken.

"We've got about 55,000 crime scene DNA's that we haven't yet been able to match with someone. So this is not only going to be great for unsolved crimes but also enable police to more quickly identify offenders and get them off the streets, particularly those committing serious offences but also those high volume offences like car thefts," Ms Neville said.

Acting Chief Commissioner Patton said the new policing power would mean police could now take a mouth swab or hair sample of a person over the age of 18 who is suspected of or charged with an indictable offence.

If the person does not consent, the legislation will still allow a senior sergeant to take a DNA sample. The legislation will also allow for samples to be taken from young people between the ages of 15 and 18, regarding high end offences.

"Police can now do this without a court order and [we are] expecting to take 70000 DNA samples from people in the first year and have significant matches to outstanding crime scenes," he said.

STRANGULATION LAW

Ms Neville also launched a new stand-alone strangulation offence to address the seriousness of the violence and to better protect survivors of family violence.

"The police have come to us to say that one of the really high risk things for women in family violence situations is strangulation and the current laws don't enable us to pick up, charge people and intervene as easily as possible unless there is a serious injury," she said.

"But we know, where there are signs of strangulation, though they may not have initially caused a serious injury, it is seven times more likely that a person will later be murdered by their partner. So this is an area that if we can get in early, we can help save women's lives. And we think a strangulation offence will help to do that."

Acting Chief Commissioner Patton said the introduction of the offence would make it indictable so it could be dealt with appropriately.

"Currently the difficulty is we may not be able to meet the evidential burden to prove an injury. So this will address a gap in the legislation as it currently exists," he said.

ROAD SAFETY

"We have a couple of areas in which police are able to, at the moment, automatically suspend someone's driver's license but over the past couple of years there have been some terrible cases that have shown us there is a gap in this law," Ms Neville said.

"In situations where cars are used as weapons or cars cause serious injury, or in the case of if a person is found to be travelling more than 45km per hour over the speed limit, police will now be able to automatically suspend that person's license. This is very on the side of the victim."

"We don't currently have, under the road safety act, the ability to suspect people's licenses in incidents where it doesn't clearly show involvement of alcohol or drugs so to do that it will mean addressing the gap and we won't be relying on the courts to impose conditions for breach of bail but we will be able to do it ourselves,"Acting Chief Commissioner Patton said.

"So if we charge someone with say manslaughter that involved the use of the car then there is the suspension of the license and they can't drive."

AUDIO LINKS

There will also be additional resources for more audio visual links between police stations and the Magistrates Court to reduce the constant movement of prisoners between police cells and the court system.

"This is again freeing up police time but also getting quicker outcomes for people," Ms Neville said.

PROTECTIVE SERVICE OFFICERS

It was also announced that Protective Services Officers would now be able to be deployed more flexibly throughout the community to where they are needed.

"When we committed to the additional 3000 police in our first community safety statement we also indicated funding an additional 100 PSOs and to move to a more mobile, flexible transport system," Ms Neville said.

"So we want to keep our PSOs on the platforms but also want to create mobile capacity so they can be used on the trains, trams or other transport networks."

She said Victoria Police would now be able to designate areas that required a mobile team, so mass gatherings or major events, to provide reassurance to the community while leaving police to tackle more serious issues.

"We will commence work on that legislation - working with Victoria Police - to look at how we can deploy those mobile teams across the state to where they're needed."

The number for the police assistance line is 131 444 and online reports about non-urgent crimes can be made on the Victoria Police website.