唯歹徒敬畏法律时，警察方能有效守护邻里

再经过两年来漫长的等待与抗争后，Andrews 政府终于在上周宣布维州将会增加更多警力。 暂且撇开久旱逢甘霖的些微喜悦，如此拖延增加警力的结果，造成维州将面临两大严峻挑战。

首先，远水救不了近火，因警力增加并非一蹴而就。 警力从决定增加，开始培训到可出任务仍有一段遥远的距离，其原因在于维州警官学校每年能培训的警力仅数百人之数。 而与警力培训数字成明显对比的是，维州犯罪问题正以惊人的速度恶化着。 这代表即便培训好的警力可出任务之日，增加几百人的警力对比维州日后的治安将有如杯水车薪。

其二，警力固然重要，但法律更是维安之本。 由于政府放鬆法制，即便警察终于抓到犯人，但在宽鬆的法制下，犯人极可能从轻量刑，不久后又回到社会再次犯案。

因此，若不多管齐下，在增强警力的同时亦强化法制，否则只有警员的增加仍于事无补。 法乃维安之本，唯歹徒敬畏法律时，警察方能真正有效守护邻里。

 

英文版/ English version

 

For police to keep us safe, criminals must fear the law

 

The Andrews government last week announced some extra police for Victoria, after cutting frontline police numbers for two years. Unfortunately, there are two serious problems.

 

The first is that it will take a long time for these extra police to be trained and on duty, because Victoria’s Police Academy can only train a few hundred extra police each year.

 

However, crime is likely to continue to rise, meaning that when these police are finally trained, they will have even more crime to try to fight.

 

The second problem is that, because the government has weakened our laws, even when our police catch more criminals, the criminals are likely to get light sentences and soon be back committing more crime.

 

All the extra police will not be able to keep us safe if criminals have no fear for the law.