Protective Services Officers are being cut from 119 suburban train platforms to beef up security at the Melbourne’s most dangerous railway stations.
A radical revamp of Victoria’s PSO deployment to throw more resources at crime hotspots will include daytime patrols at 32 stations, including CBD stations and suburban stops including Dandenong, Sunshine, Footscray, Frankston and Ringwood.
As revealed by The Age, violent offences occurring across the state’s rail network have surged by 33 per cent since the state’s COVID-era lockdowns ended, despite permanent patrols at all 216 metropolitan stations and four V/Line stations daily between 6pm and the last train.
However, Victoria Police data shows transport network crimes spike around mid-morning and afternoon and, despite rising rates at known hotspots, there are low levels of crime recorded at four out of five stations.
Under the changes, unveiled by Victoria Police on Saturday, platform-based PSOs will be removed from 119 smaller, less busy stations and replaced by officers riding trains between these locations or responding as needed, splitting PSO teams between up to six stations.
The stations which will have patrols reduced to roving PSO coverage include 79 stations which recorded no crimes against the person in 2024. A further 101 stations recorded fewer than six crimes against the person in 2024, according to data released by Victoria Police.
There will be no change to current PSO patrols at 73 metropolitan stations and four regional stations, with the regular teams of officers clocking on at platforms from 6pm each day as normal.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Hermans said the reallocation of PSOs would begin on Sunday and be phased in over the next six months.
Under the move, PSOs will patrol 32 “high-risk” stations from 9am until the last service, instead of from 6pm.
“It makes no sense to have PSOs stuck at smaller, less busy stations when they could have more impact aboard the train at these locations,” Hermans said.
“This approach also frees PSOs to conduct more intelligence-led patrols across the network where and when we know crime is occurring.
“That includes during the day when we see spikes in crime in the mid-morning and afternoon, including after school.
“It’s important to make clear PSOs will remain out across the network until the last train service each night.”
Nightly PSO patrols were introduced to all Melbourne railway stations in 2010, when the then Baillieu government was elected on a promise to increase transport network security between 6pm and the final train service.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has previously slammed talk of reducing PSO presence at suburban stations, and said the officers played a vital role in preventing crime.
Rather than limiting dedicated railway station patrols, Wilson this month promised to recruit an additional 200 PSOs as part of a plan to beef up security in high-risk areas if she won this year’s state election.
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