A "heartfelt thank you" has been given to Victoria Police members working the border during the Christmas period by their top boss, Shane Patton.
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The Chief Commissioner visited the Lincoln Causeway checkpoint just before 11am on Friday with Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt.
"The Air Wing was coming up - they wanted to get some vision to see what the structures are on each of the checkpoints to make sure we've got them right," Chief Commissioner Patton told The Border Mail.
"So we decided to come up and speak to the members.
"At this time of year, to be rung up last week and have us say, 'We'll recall you from leave and you can come stay up here or Cann River' ... it is a heartfelt thanks, that's for sure."
Wodonga Inspector Paul Hargreaves met with Commissioner Patton and Mr Gatt.
He said the region's checkpoints were being managed out of a control centre at Wangaratta.
"We've got 17 sites in our area that are currently staffed, these ones [causeway and freeway] being the biggest," Inspector Hargreaves said.
"Some are obviously closed.
"There's 27 controlled across the whole state for VicPol - it's an enormous task.
"We had 243 [members] allocated in the first deployment, so they're now swapping over.
"It's significant numbers ... we're well up over 700 now, coming in and going out."
Inspector Hargreaves said checkpoints were being "refined" and delays had reduced.
"They've been fluctuating. In the first 24 hours, they were significant during peak hour," he said.
"Yesterday down at peak hour, they got it down to 15 minutes.
"There's a bit of a change in traffic flow during the current period because of Christmas."
The Border Mail confirmed the Myrtleford police station has been closed to the public this week, but Inspector Hargreaves said the emergency response was not impacted and people could request assistance via the call button if they attended the station.
"The situation there is, there's a number of stations, under the whole COVID banner, that we've had to rationalise to make sure we've got staff in the right places," Inspector Hargreaves said.
"Myrtleford and Tallangatta have closed ... all that means is while they're closed, that shopfront, they're still operating resources through the community.
"So we've just split them into more centralised stations, so they can focus on where the jobs are.
"[It's] no reduced service."
Commissioner Patton said Victoria Police was "mirroring the NSW set-up but on our side".
"No one wants to be doing it, but it's necessary," he said.
"The locals have been fantastic, they're coming through and giving our members food and drink.
"Everyone stands down at this time of year and we're standing up, and you throw that in with hotel quarantine and necessity for emergency management."
Mr Gatt said he was "really, really proud" of the members, who are staying in Army accommodation at Bandiana and in tents at East Gippsland.
"We've come up here to see them but what they're doing at the most difficult time of the year simply deserves the greatest recognition," he said.
"They're doing it without any gripes, they all recognise how important the work that they're doing is.
"One of the things they want to say ... is how much they want to thank the community for the respect, gratitude and patience."
Mr Gatt said members had responded to bushfires, COVID-19 and now border closures.
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"Some of those members [who managed road closures during fires] are the same members standing out there today - they started the year like this, and they're finishing the year like this," he said.
"It's an absolute credit to their professionalism."
It was a brief visit, with the Chief Commissioner spending about 15 minutes speaking to members before the Airwing refuelled at Albury airport and left.
All border crossings in the Albury-Wodonga region are now staffed by officers, including at the Victorian end of the Bethanga Bridge.
Wodonga-bound traffic on the Hume Freeway is being diverted off the Bandiana Link to a checkpoint there, while other traffic is continuing through with the checkpoint in place on the freeway overpass.
