Inspector Brett Coloe has a corner office in the St Kilda Police Station overlooking Chapel Street. His patch is all of Port Phillip, overseeing the operations from both St Kilda and South Melbourne police stations.
He’s an experienced officer with a lot of local knowledge; he occupied the same role at St Kilda in the summer of 2017/2018 and returned to take up the top local job in 2024. In other words, he knew what he was in for when he took the job.
But don’t mistake Brett for a desk jockey. In the weeks before our chat he’s been working operational shifts during some of our major local events and doing his share of night shift on the mean streets.
He’s got energy and enthusiasm for the job, which is a good thing, because he’ll need it.
Reporting crime and crime statistics
We started by clearing up the facts about the way crime statistics are generated. Is it only Triple Zero calls that get logged into crime stats, we ask?
‘Crime reports are very important to our work. All reports from the public, Triple Zero calls, Police Assistance Line 131 444 and reports made at the police station all contribute to the crime statistics.
‘Those reports are all crucial to how we deploy resources to best reduce crime,’ he said.
All the data goes to the Crimes Statistics Agency that then makes the information publicly available.
Brett says call Triple Zero when you need police to attend, call Police Assistance Line 131 444 to report other crimes or visit the local police station – it all goes into the same data bucket.
Burglaries are top of mind
‘The local data shows that four out of the top five offences are related to cars, vehicle theft, theft from cars, damage to cars and alike. Much of this is young offenders, and that’s the target of Operation Trinity* a Melbourne wide taskforce.
‘But the fifth highest offence is burglary, and as local commander, that concerns me the most,’ he said.
‘Armed with your reports, our investigations are targeting these offenders. There’s a significant amount of effort into stopping this because these are serious crimes.’
It’s no secret that Police are understaffed
Brett concedes that the Port Phillip Police Service Area has staffing challenges. But our patch is not alone, it’s a nationwide problem apparently.
‘In Victoria we are short 1,000 officers plus there are around 700 officers on long-term sick leave or WorkCover**.’
But the local police are routinely backed up by officers deployed from other departments, such as the Public Order Response.
‘Every Friday and Saturday night, we routinely have extra officers that we can deploy locally. There is a recognition that St Kilda and Port Phillip are a culturally important magnet for festivals and visitors, especially during the summer peak season.’
‘This area is an absolutely iconic location, on the scale of Bondi or Byron Bay, we should be celebrating it.’
Local laws and encampments
We asked Brett what his thoughts were about street encampments, such as that seen in the Jackson Street Carpark or around the Ngargee Tree.
‘Community concern about street safety is probably our number one challenge in this local government area’, he said.
‘Community sentiment and community concern is very much focused on this topic. But the crime statistics suggest this is more of a foundational social issue than a crime issue.
‘Foundational because its more about homelessness and social rights than crime. Current local laws have allowed this presence and asking police to regulate it is not sustainable.’
‘It’s not up to police to regulate camps in the street, but the community see no end to this and call us. But it’s a social need and social services need to do the heavy lifting.’
‘St Kilda is increasingly becoming more gentrified. Many things that were hidden behind walls at places like the Gatwick, are now playing out in public in the streets. For police, the amount of crime we are dealing with hasn’t changed – but it’s so much more visible.’
‘The truth is that coppers have never worked so hard, never arrested more people, but the perceptions of crime keep rising.’
Roundtable progress
Coloe was enthusiastic about the recent Community Safety Round Table and said it exceeded his expectations.
‘I’m really pleased with what council has done here. They’ve put a lot of thought and consideration into this. They know it’s not as simple as fining and moving people.’
He attended the roundtable and was impressed by the commitment of the local agencies.
‘The sense of cooperation and collaboration and creative thinking that went on, I couldn’t ask for more, it was amazing,’ he said.
He said big take-away was that the community groups were able to better see the intensity and gravity of the safety concerns in the community.
‘The agencies are focused on their work, often under-resourced and stretched to the limit, focused on their clients. They are not necessarily getting the calls, emails and frank feedback from the community that council, councillors and the police get daily.’
‘It was a great roundtable, and I’d be interested in meeting more regularly, maybe on a quarterly basis.’
Now that’s a big recommendation from a very practical ‘copper’.
Notes from VicPol Media Unit
*Operation Trinity is Victoria Police’s most well-resourced operation, with over 140,000 policing hours dedicated solely to this operation in 2024.
On top of this, the Air Wing spent well over a thousand hours in the sky last year tracking burglars and car thieves as part of Trinity.
** Victoria Police have more than 1000 vacancies statewide and is working hard to fill these positions while supporting the frontline. Additionally, they have about 700 police off on WorkCover.
VicPol are committed to supporting these members in their return to work and have a team of internal welfare and qualified mental health professionals who provide preventative and early intervention support to our employees.
