Regional Victorians urged to contact police if they see Melburnians in their towns

With regional Victoria coming out of lockdown today, 200 police have been deployed to the metropolitan Melbourne fringe in a bid to stop city-dwellers travelling to the country without a valid reason.

Victoria Police Commander Deb Robertson says officers will be relying “heavily” on number plate recognition technology while patrolling.

While there won’t be a “ring of steel”, Commander Robertson warned police will be out in force.

“Up on the NSW border, since we’ve been running up there, we’ve intercepted over 110,000 vehicles,” she told Neil Mitchell.

Police are urging regional Victorians to contact police if they see an influx of out-of-towners in their areas.

“We’re certainly out and about in our regional areas to assist if they’re concerned and we rely on the eyes and ears of the community in regional areas, as we did last time,” Commander Robertson said.

“We’re there to support them if they believe they’re having a problem with an influx of people coming who don’t belong there.”

Press PLAY below to hear how police are ensuring Melburnians don’t flee to the country