Shut up (cop) shop: Gisborne station locked as man tries to hand himself in over death

Victoria’s police union claims an alleged offender couldn’t hand himself in over the discovery of a body in Gisborne last night, because the doors to the local police station were locked.

Police confirm a man, 55, attended the station about 5.30pm yesterday.

The station was closed because Gisborne no longer features a 24-hour station.

Officers were alerted to the man’s presence and a sergeant, who happened to be inside the locked station at the time, emerged and arrested the man without incident.

A body was later found on Rodney Street about 6.30pm.

The man has since been charged with murder.

Secretary of the Police Association, Wayne Gatt, says the station’s locked doors are indicative of a resourcing issue.

“They’ve been trying to run that station as a 24-hour police station since about March 2012,” Mr Gatt told 3AW.

“They’ve only recently had to wind back night shift services to the community on the basis of insufficient resources.

“It’s quite worrying for us.”

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