A major police operation was held as the state celebrated the start of 2024, ensuring Victorians could bring in the new year safely.
Thousands of police worked around-the-clock with general duties, plain clothed and specialist police saturating the CBD, as well as key regional centres and holiday destinations.
Crowds of police monitored crowd behaviour in Melbourne’s CBD as hundreds of thousands of people gathered to watch the fireworks displays.
A significant police presence was also in place at key areas across the state, including the St Kilda foreshore, Mornington Peninsula, Surf Coast and Phillip Island.
As part of the operation, police arrested 33 people for various incidents including assaults, sexual assaults, traffic offences and a robbery and responded to 64 fireworks-related incidents, several of which resulted in serious injuries and fires.
Omni operations were activated in Melbourne’s CBD, St Kilda and Geelong foreshores, which provided police additional powers to search and detect weapons.
During a combined 3687 wand-searches, police seized 26 weapons from the streets.
Across the evening, a combined total of 3627 preliminary breath tests and road-side drug tests were conducted.
Police caught four people drink driving, while 15 people were found to be driving while drug affected.
The bolstered presence continued on during Monday 1 January, with a particular focus on foreshores as the warm weather continued.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Grainger said it was “pleasing” to see thousands of Victorians flock to the CBD and enjoy the celebrations safely.
“We also saw great crowd behaviour at suburban and regional community celebrations, with people taking responsibility for their own behaviour and looking out for their friends,” he said.
“There were only a small number of people who did the wrong thing, but they were dealt with swiftly by police, so the atmosphere was in no way spoiled.”
