The change, which came into play on Friday, aims to limit-non essential travel to police stations in the midst of these uncertain times.
With about 3000 people on bail across the state accounting for about 40 000 trips made to police stations for bail reporting purposes, North East Prosecutions Manager Senior Sergeant Ross Fifoot said the temporary suspension was an important step in protecting the health and safety of local police and the wider community.
“By temporarily suspending this reporting during these unprecedented times, we are removing 40 000 non-essential trips each month,” Sen Sgt Fifoot said.
“This assists us in reducing the risks to staff and the community - the chief health officer directions are also more restrictive than bail reporting.”
People on bail will receive communications informing them that their need to report is suspended, however, Sen Sgt Fifoot confirmed other measures may need to be put in place based on individual risk assessments of each case.
While the reporting condition was suspended indefinitely until the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, Sen Sgt Fifoot reminded people on bail that their expectations remained the same.
“Victoria police will be conducting individual risk assessments on bailees and, if required, police will develop an offender management plan that will see an increased level of monitoring, such as additional residential compliance checks,” he said.
When announcing the suspension earlier this week Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton reminded the community this was not a "free kick", saying the accountability regime police would be adhering to would be more stringent than before.
This includes a potential legislative reform, which is awaiting approval to allow police to conduct bail checks by skype and other online platforms to ensure offender accountability.
“There are no free kicks here - there will be an increased accountability . . . we're still remanding people everyday between 20 and 40 people are remanded every day and taken back before the courts and remanded into custody,” Deputy Commissioner Patton said.
“(This change) is better for the community at a health perspective.”
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