Author: Stephen Taylor

A SURGE of 9.3 per cent in crime in Kingston in the past year, including a 150 per cent jump in abductions, has been blamed on state government cuts to police numbers and fewer station opening hours, along with weaker bail laws. “Crime is completely out of control in Kingston and Victoria under Labor,” Liberal state Upper House MP for the South Eastern Metropolitan Region Inga Peulich said. “Labor takes Kingston for granted.” The crime statistics, delayed by the weekend’s AFL Grand Final, reveal that, for the year ending June, a record 11,221 offences were reported in Kingston compared to…

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FOUR men in a stolen four-wheel-drive rammed their way into the Frankston Power Centre in an attempt to steal an ATM, 6.40am, Monday 3 October. Detective Senior Constable Bernie Dowling, of Frankston CIU, said the men crashed into the ATM in the food hall of the centre, corner Cranbourne Rd and Gertrude St, but ran off when their vehicle became stuck, leaving a trail of destruction. Mornington ram raid IN a similar raid, thieves used two four-wheel-drives in a ram-raid attack on Peninsula Homemaker Centre, Mornington, early Saturday 24 September, and got away with a large amount of cash. Police…

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THE door to Frankston Football Club’s long-term future may be ajar – but the club formed in 1887 will not be permitted to field a team next season. AFL Victoria said on Friday it had formally terminated the Dolphins’ playing licence for 2017, and had already told the club’s administrators. However, AFL Victoria CEO Steven Reaper said that if the club’s ongoing viability could be proved over the next few months he was hopeful that a “solution that is both sustainable and viable can be considered going forward for a VFL presence, potentially from 2018”. This makes a meeting today…

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DOLPHINS board member James Crowder said the loss of the club’s playing licence for next season was a “sad day for Frankston”. But, he said: “We are determined to get it back by proving that we are a viable concern. “We have a great facility, one of the best in the VFL, and we have got to get together to put a case that it is sustainable. “Everyone hopes that in 2018 we will be back on the field once we have proven we are a viable performer. “The AFL will assist us because they know that we are very…

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A HIGHLIGHT of the National Police Remembrance Day service at Frankston RSL, Thursday, was the presentation of the Victoria Police Star to the son of a former officer who died after ending his shift. Acting Superintendent Simon Humphries, of Southern Metro Division 4 – which covers the Mornington Peninsula – made the presentation to Andrew Simmons, the son of Edward Simmons who was killed when his police motorbike crashed on Oliver’s Hill late on Christmas Eve, 1957. Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation Mornington Peninsula branch president Darryl Nation said the first constable in the mobile traffic section was riding home…

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