If there has been one government program that shows policy is about polls not practicality, it has been the idiotic use of protective services officers standing at near deserted railway stations .

Announced by the Liberal Baillieu opposition in the lead-up to the 2010 state election, it came as a surprise to senior police who were not consulted on the plan.

Protective Service Officers on patrol at Southern Cross Station. Credit: Paul Rovere

In announcing the policy, in what turned out to be an election run and won on law and order, Ted Baillieu said: “We will make Victoria safe again.”

Sound familiar?

Stationary defences don’t work. Ask the French about their wartime efforts with the Maginot Line or the British about the Singapore strategy. Good on paper, stinky in practice.

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