THE state’s new top cop has confirmed new enforcement squads will be deployed to police regional areas, including Tamworth.
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On one of his first regional visits, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller toured the Tamworth Police Station and met with the local association as well as police on Friday.
When questioned by The Leader about the regional enforcement squad model that he helped to create, Commissioner Fuller said he would roll it out to this side of the Great Dividing Range as soon as possible.
“Absolutely,” he said.
“So not every town will have a regional enforcement squad but we will be pooling resources in regional NSW with the capability to investigate and tackle mid-level crime.”
So not every town will have a regional enforcement squad but we will be pooling resources in regional NSW with the capability to investigate and tackle mid-level crime.
- NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller
Commissioner Fuller said the the enforcement squad model will work out of hubs and it “is absolutely a priority of mine”.
“The real challenge in policing is about not continually putting police in the back end of responding to crime, but you've got to tackle prevention and disruption,” he said when questioned on the need for more pro-active resources.
“The enforcement squads are really around prevention and disruption which then will hopefully decrease the workload for the uniformed police and the other police.
“I think that is the important thing that if you keep putting resources into crime then you never win the battle and the regional enforcement squads are key, they're central to preventing and disrupting crime.”
Commissioner Fuller was asked if he would like to see Tamworth become a hub for a squad, to which he replied: “absolutely”.
The Tamworth tour was the second day in the job for new Deputy Commissioner for Regional NSW, Gary Worboys, after Thursday’s announcement.
He will lead a taskforce in two weeks to look at re-engineering the force’s model to police country areas.
Deputy Commissioner Worboys said tackling ice in regional communities was one of his biggest priorities.
“It's always on on my mind about the difference between remote, rural and regional NSW and making sure we forget no one as we go through this re-engineering process,” he told media.
“We've spoken a lot about ice here today but there is no doubt that rural crime and the prevention of rural crime is something I am going to have to have a good look at.”