Frontline police will get back hundreds of hours to keep the community safe as the first wave of reservists start work at station counters.
The first 50 former officers - many with decades of experience - are being deployed to 26 stations across the state.
They will perform a range of administrative duties to free up serving police so they can do what they do best - prevent and detect crime.
Victoria Police analysis shows 50 reservists alone will put 1360 policing hours - the equivalent of 170 shifts - back in the community each week.
This will be used to conduct proactive patrols and more swiftly respond to calls for service.
The first 50 reservists begin duty this week and next week.
They have an average 21 years of prior policing experience, with 17 serving for between 30 and 45 years and eight recording more than 40 years as police.
Those being deployed include a retired sergeant who served for 42 years, a former senior sergeant in charge of the same station for 25 years and a retired superintendent who served for 35 years and is carrying on the legacy of her late policing husband.
A married couple with a combined 72 years working with Victoria Police will return to the station where they met four decades ago to perform shifts together.
Victoria Police is today detailing the first police stations to get reservists.
Those in metropolitan Melbourne include Altona, Caulfield, Cranbourne, Frankston, Glen Waverley, Knox, Moonee Ponds, Moorabbin, Oakleigh and Richmond.
Regional stations include Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura, Sale, Shepparton, Wangaratta and Wodonga.
Locations have been selected based on areas with the busiest stations and where reservists live.
Further stations getting reservists will be announced as they are deployed.
Victoria Police has received funding for 200 full-time reservist positions.
Actual numbers will exceed this as many will work part-time, meaning it will take several people to fill each position available.
Of the first 50 reservists 39 have been employed part-time with the remaining 11 returning full-time.
The response to the initiative has been extraordinary, with more than 500 applications so far received.
Squads of around 25 reservists are completing training at the Victoria Police Academy every few weeks, with rolling deployments scheduled until the middle of December.
Training is bespoke and runs for a week.
It includes refresher classes in a variety of disciplines identified as critical to the newly-created frontline support officer role.
Duties include answering phones, helping with paperwork, signing statutory declarations, receiving exhibits into police custody and taking crime reports.
Reservists will be rostered for eight-hour shifts between 7am and 7pm on weekdays.
Positions are paid with a full-time salary is $86,188 a year and nine weeks paid leave.
Further details on the program are available at https://www.police.vic.gov.au/reservist.
Quotes attributable to Chief Commissioner Mike Bush:
"Reservists help us put more police in the community doing what they do best.
"The first 50 reservists alone will put more than 1300 policing hours back in the community every single week.
"That's 1300 hours detecting crime, preventing crime and keeping people safe.
"Our reservists bring a wealth of experience, with many spending decades in the job.
"The fact they've come out of retirement to step up for their communities and colleagues says so much about their drive to make Victoria safer.
"Our police do an incredible job and reservists will put them where they're needed most, not trapped behind a desk."
Police stations getting first 50 reservists:
Altona
Ballarat
Bendigo
Caulfield
Corio
Cranbourne
Frankston
Geelong
Glen Waverley
Heidelberg
Knox
Lilydale
Melbourne East
Melbourne West
Mildura
Moonee Ponds
Moorabbin
Oakleigh
Richmond
Rosebud
Sale
Seymour
Shepparton
Wangaratta
