KEMPSEY will receive more police officers by May, NSW Police Mid North Coast Local Area Commander Paul Fehon said last week.
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“The current government announced 90 additional police for the northern region,” Commander Fehon told The Macleay Argus.
“We received our first batch of five which have been allocated to where the greatest workload across the command is, and one of those areas was up at Nambucca.
“But we did that with the foresight that we anticipate up to about seven extra officers coming to the northern region, with the majority of them earmarked to make an impact here in Kempsey.”
The perception of an increase in crime in Kempsey over the past few months has some people concerned that the region does not have enough police officers to combat the situation.
Kempsey Police Inspector Michael Aldridge said Kempsey, Crescent Head and South West Rocks were busy, and the police could not be where people want them to be 24 hours a day.
“We prioritise jobs as they come in,” Inspector Aldridge said.
“As an example, there may be a job at South West Rocks or Crescent Head like a break and enter and it may take us two hours to get there because of a serious domestic in Kempsey.
"However, we generally ring those people and say we are going to be a couple of hours.
“Unfortunately, the tyranny of distance is an issue and always has been.
"People need to understand we put jobs in order of urgency to attend to, and that job of stealing at Crescent Head will most likely go down the list.
"Every station in the state does that.”
Commander Fehon said the extra police officers due to arrive in May would be on the streets in Kempsey fighting crime.
“Putting one officer here 12 months ago would have made no difference,” Commander Fehon said.
“Having a larger number here and how we allocate them will have an impact and we want to see them as part of mobile policing out in the streets."