Nearly 700 police deployed to border checkpoints in massive operation

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent says they have called on officers from specialist units for the mammoth task of monitoring Victoria’s border with NSW.

Nearly 700 police officers have been deployed to the borders, some are sleeping in tents in Gippsland.

The ADF rejected a state government request for 300 ADF personnel at checkpoints on the Victorian side of the New South Wales border.

Deputy Commissioner Nugent said many officers had voluntarily cancelled leave while every specialist unit including counter terrorism and homicide are contributing resources.

“The majority of resources are from regional operations that is the police stations and police units right across the state, mostly metro Melbourne.

“We put out the call to all areas … many of them are on holidays or days off so they stuck up their hand and said they would head there.

“The mix has been worth while: it means we are not draining resources on any one area to spread the load so as to minimise the impact on any other police operations we conduct.

“We weren’t certain we were going to get [ADF support] anyway, it would have been great if we did.

“We planned around making sure we were able to achieve the desired outcome and that is to check every vehicle coming in and check they are legitimately coming in to Victoria.”

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Border woes: Frustration grows as locals face lengthy delays at checkpoints