FRANKSTON and the Mornington Peninsula have a new top cop, and vehicle crime, theft, and road trauma are at the top of her agenda.
Superintendent Anne Rudd moved into the lead role in August as the divisional superintendent for the Frankston and Mornington police service area in the southern metropolitan region. She brings 24 years of policing experience, including stints as the local area commander in Yarra, a tasking coordination inspector in the city, and, more recently, overseeing police recruit training at the Victoria Police Academy for the past five years.
Superintendent Rudd plans to use that experience to ensure the community and visitors alike feel safe, heard, and supported. “I’m really passionate about community policing. I really wanted to get back to operational policing and have a connection with the community, and this is a wonderful part of the world to police,” she told The Times. “It’s got all the vibrancy of the city in Frankston and, of course, the Mornington Peninsula, and it’s such a wonderful area. It was a good opportunity for me to get back and do that after a bit of a break from my previous role.”
Superintendent Rudd pledged to deliver a strong police presence with a priority to ensure the community feels safe. “We just don’t want to be reactive. We want to be proactive. We want to take every opportunity that we possibly can to prevent harm from occurring,” she said. “Everything that we do has to be intelligence-based and evidence-based, so it’s about understanding what are the drivers for the crime that does occur, and how do we then reduce that crime.”
“This includes reducing the serious crime, violent crime, road trauma and, importantly, to help us do that, increasing community trust and the confidence in the police here across Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula – that’s a key priority for me.”
Youth crime prevention would also be a key focus, with Superintendent Rudd noting that while the number of child offenders had reduced, repeat offending remains a challenge. “We don’t just hold them accountable for offences, which we will continue to do, but also seek to prevent them committing those offences in the first place. We actually link them in with various supports and referrals,” she said.
Asked about her approach to theft from motor vehicles and theft of motor vehicles, which were among the highest offences on the Mornington Peninsula in the latest Crime Statistic Agency data, Superintendent Rudd acknowledged there was an emerging trend of offenders using electronic devices capable of programming or mimicking keys to steal cars.
“We’re seeing that across the whole state; it’s not just unique to the Mornington Peninsula,” she said. “We have had some really simple messages for people, things that they can do themselves to deter offenders. We’re asking people to, if they can, park off the street, and there are some really good options in terms of the OBD port locks which can then prevent the electronic devices from being effective.
“We are also asking the community not to leave valuables in their cars because it becomes really attractive to opportunistic offenders. It’s important to also ensure all windows and doors are locked.”
Superintendent Rudd said the peninsula was adequately resourced with police personnel despite any concerns about reception counters at Mornington and Hastings police stations being closed to the public at night to ease staffing pressures.
“While we might have reduced reception hours and that’s been the factor at Mornington and Hastings police station, the actual stations are not closed; it’s just the front counter, so police are still working from those stations,” she said. “They will still be patrolling in the community, and by closing that reception overnight, that means we actually have more police out on the divisional van responding to crime and preventing crime rather than sitting behind the desk during the overnight period where there’s little amount of people coming in for inquiries.
“We do still have our 24-hour police stations at Rosebud and Frankston where people are able to attend.”
Superintendent Rudd said there would be opportunities for the public to interact with police, including public forums to build a connected, safe region.
First published in the Mornington News- 2 September 2025
