MELBOURNE: Thousands of police officers have been deployed across the southeast Australian state of Victoria to ensure public safety during New Year celebrations.
Victoria Police said that thousands of general duty officers and specialist assets from the mounted branch, dog squad, water police, air wing and critical incident response team (CIRT) will work overnight on Wednesday to ensure that New Year celebrations are safe, Xinhua news agency reported.
Superintendent Belinda Jones, Victoria Police's statewide New Year's Eve commander, said in a statement that the strong police presence would provide "reassurance" to the public following the fatal mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach earlier in December.
"A significant level of planning has been underway to ensure we are well resourced to maintain community safety for the many events right across the state, " she said.