MORE police will be stationed in the Loddon within months after a Victoria Police review found the area was under strength.
However, while two new offices will be stationed at Inglewood the wait will continue for the vacant Pyramid Hill position to be filled.
Maryborough and Loddon’s Senior Sergeant Wendy Lambert said positions at Inglewood station had been advertised in the the police gazette.
Senior Sergeant Lambert said appointments at 16-hour and eight-hour stations - all five stations in the Loddon Shire - were only able to be filled by experienced officers.
Maryborough is a 24-hour station that can fill positions with academy graduuates.
She said both Inglewood and Maryborough had been identified for more officers in enterprise bargaining negotiations four years ago.
Applicants for the new Inglewood positions were to be interviewed this week.
Senior Sergeant Lambert said Victoria Police understood community disappointment that the vacancy had not been filled in Pyramid Hill.
She said Pyramid Hill had been identified as a critical station and that assessment had been given to police executive command.
Earlier this year, Victoria Police it was in the process of advertising the position at Pyramid Hill. It has yet to appear in the police gazette. Boort also remains without a permanent police officer.
Senior Sergeant Lambert said the increase in police stationed in the Loddon Shire would assist in providing coverage of all communities while some vacancies were filled.
Highway patrol and other police branches continued to have a regular presence on Loddon roads and in local communities, she said.
The allocation of more police in the Loddon Shire comes as the latest round of enterprise bargaining for Victoria Police was resolved last week.
Nine-hour shifts and nine-day fortnights will be phased in by 2029.
Victoria Police said it would begin with eight-hour, 20-minute shifts from April 1 followed by the introduction of eight-hour, 34-minute shifts from October 2026 and nine-hour shifts no earlier January 2029.