PCO Bryan Bateman and PCO Parwinder Singh started on Friday. Senior Sergeant Deon Townsend-Booth, who is also new to Warrnambool Police, said the city was “pencilled in” to get seven PCOs.

“Parwinder and Bryan’s role is to help us,” he said.

“They will look after the welfare of the prisoners and their day-to-day needs. They will walk them over to court. We will still have a security presence. They will do a lot of the tasks which were traditionally our role. It gives us more time for our members to do the role we were employed to do. We have two more vacancies, so if anyone is interested in a career as a PCO they can go on the Victoria Police website.”

Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Ben Carroll said the PCOs would serve the community while also helping sworn police return to the front line.

“These new custody officers will play a critical role in community safety by allowing more police to do what they do best – fight and prevent crime,” he said. “The deployments of PCOs will continue right across Victoria, and adds to our promise to give police the resources they need to get the job done.”

Senior Sergeant Townsend-Booth came from Epping and has been an officer for 25 years. “Everyone has been really welcoming since I arrived,” he said.