No PSOs in sight as pair attacked at Flinders St

Police have defended the absence of Protective Services Officers on a platform at Melbourne's busiest railway station where two women bashed a young man and girl.

The violent assault, which happened at Flinders Street Station about 11.10pm on Sunday March 10, left the 17-year-old girl with serious head injuries and the 20-year-old man with facial bruising.

The wanted women, aged in their late teens or early 20s, verbally harassed the couple as the train they were all on arrived at the station.

When the four got off the Craigieburn-line train, the situation escalated, with the two women kicking and punching the man and the girl, police said.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Belle Nolan confirmed there were no PSOs on the platform at the time of the attack but they did assist in the investigation.

Ms Nolan said there were more than 150,000 people in and around Flinders Street on the night of the assault because of the end of Moomba and the Future Music Festival.

She said between February 2012, when PSOs were first deployed at Flinders Street, and December 2012, PSOs had issued more than 1500 infringement notices at the station, including:

• 346 for possessing an open container of alcohol
• 130 for being drunk in a public place
• 53 for drinking liquor in any vehicle or premises
• 29 for using indecent, obscene or threatening language
• 11 for behaving in an obscene, offensive, threatening, disorderly or riotous manner
• Seven for possessing or using a controlled weapon without a lawful excuse.

"Not only are PSOs responding to crime, they are also acting as a strong deterrent for people considering engaging in criminal and antisocial behaviour," Ms Nolan said.

Citing the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing, she said 38.4 per cent of people say they now feel safer using public transport at night, a 1.6 per cent increase when compared with the same time last year.

"We are confident that this figure will continue to rise as more stations receive PSOs," Ms Nolan said.

Police cancelled a media conference, scheduled for midday on Wednesday, saying there had been a "development" in the bashing investigation.

However, a police spokeswoman said on Thursday morning no arrests had been made.

Police believe a mobile phone or camera may have been used in the attack.

The girl, from Brighton, was seriously injured to her head and the man, from Bentleigh, had bruising to the face.

Both wanted women are described as white, about 165 centimetres tall and each was wearing a black singlet at the time.

One was blonde and was wearing black shorts, while the other was brunette and was wearing dark-coloured shorts.

Police have released an image of two women who may be able to assist the investigation.

People with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

heraldsun.com.au 21 Mar 2013

 

Victoria Police have been caught out falsifying crime figures in the past, which led to the running away of 'top dog' Simon Overland with 'tail between legs' to Tasmania

 

The figures are meaningless or most likely are falsified.

 

If one was Richard Branson, one could get away with telling the two wanted women to remove their tops.

See article:

Richard Branson - The Sexual Harasser

http://corpau.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/richard-branson-sexual-harasser.html