Victoria Police is working to "streamline" the checking of vehicles at border crossings.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Deputy Commissioner regional operations Rick Nugent said CFA and DELWP had offered to assist with ADF not being available presenting "a challenge".
"It's been a huge operation since essentially Saturday afternoon," he said.
"Around 700 police have been deployed to 31 sites.
"It is a challenge for us, a big thank you to SES who have offered to assist, we also have other agencies offering to assist.
"We understand and know there are delays at the border, we expected this would occur.
"We do need to stop all vehicles to check their legitimacy, whether they're border communities or they have a permit.
"The freight industry is able to proceed through the checkpoints per a national agreement, but we do also understand they have been impacted by the delays, particularly along the Hume at Albury-Wodonga."
Deputy Commissioner Nugent said no divisional vans had been taken off the road but some "discretionary-type" operations had been reduced.
"Our members from right across the organisation have deployed ... many of them sleeping in tents, many of them foregoing Christmas functions," he said.
"Most areas of our organisation have contributed some resources.
"I want to say how proud I am of our people."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Deputy Commissioner Nugent was not aware of why ADF couldn't attend to support checks on the ground like they did in NSW.
"I am aware they have offered and we have accepted, some resources into our logistics and planning area," he said.
"Some assistance is certainly been provided.
"Many of the border communities accommodation had already been filled by people planning for holidays
"That was a bit of a challenge for us; for our police, we couldn't deploy people to an area ... and not have anywhere for them to stay.
"We are certainly thankful to the ADF ... particularly at Bandiana, in the Albury-Wodonga area.
"They've offered that [accommodation] which is great.
"We've managed to secure accommodation in motel rooms and the like for the most part. Bandiana accommodation through the ADF is also being utilised ... and down in East Gippsland ... a tent city has been established."
Deputy Commissioner Nugent said he was not aware of anyone being isolated in regional hotels at the direction of police.
"We took a little bit to get some systems in place," he said.
"Now we have site reports ... we have turned away 12 people at the borders so far that did not have a permit and were not permitted to enter."
Deputy Commissioner Nugent was asked how Victorians who come up to visit family in border communities can go about crossing into NSW, considering they won't have a border address.
"Stay in Victoria. It's something we can certainly have conversations about," he said.