More police needed
As part of the Armidale Crime Prevention and Neighbourhood Watch Group here in Armidale, I am alarmed by the lack of police numbers not only here in Armidale but across the New England LAC.
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We welcome the three new officers, however three is not enough. Our police are still off on prisoner transport taking them away from duties here, other stations in our region are low in numbers: Moree short of 10, we find our officers from Armidale are filing shortfalls in these areas. It’s not good enough.
It’s a disgrace to the state government that the NSW Police Association had to petition for more police, and still only got 1500 to be distributed over the next four years which will account to 1 officer per LAC across NSW. We have registered sex offenders here in Armidale with no officer to monitor them.
How are we expected to reduce crime and make Armidale a safer place to live without adequate Police numbers. Ice is rampant in regional areas.
We need more police and a dog squad here to have any sort of impact on it. It’s been ignored for far too long and the Armidale residents have had enough. I urge all those in the community to speak up and voice your concerns.
Kathy Clare, Armidale
Make Self-Kindness Your New Years Resolution
I’d like to take the opportunity to remind all of you lovely people on the eve of the new year that if your resolution is based on self-hate then you’re not setting yourself up for self-improvement, you’re setting yourself up to perpetuate that feeling of self loathing.
Make yourself promises because you love yourself, because you want to do right by you, because you want to feel the best you can about to person you are becoming: not because you wish you were someone else or because you resent what you see in the mirror.
If you’re running towards something, even if it’s just the feeling of waking up in the morning without a day’s worth of dread already on your back, you’re going to find it a lot easier to mark your progress and enjoy the process of change than if you’re running away.
I’m all for making changes that need to be made, and I’ve personally made a few this year, but if you’re not motivated by a need to be kind to yourself then you’re not going to reap the harvest that you want.
Fuelling yourself with toxic energy, even if it gets you there, will burn you out by the time you reach the finish line. Treat yourself always with the kindness you extend to others.
Don’t give yourself anything less than you deserve, friends, especially not as you prepare to welcome 2019. The possibilities are endless.
Sophie Schumann-Maude,
Tamworth
Plastic bags
A number of countries are banning single use plastic bags, the usual supermarket types and although this is a good start they should ban all plastic bags in shops.
The ban has been well supported by most people although there have been cases of plastic bag rage at shops when people have forgotten. This is another example of the decline of standards of some people and no shop assistant should be yelled at for a customer's mistake.
There are already too many bags in our rubbish tips and ocean creatures stomachs. People need to grow up, get some cloth bags and reuse them.
Dennis Fitzgerald,
Box Hill