A new petition demanding a 24-hour police presence at Gunnedah Police Station is headed for NSW Parliament. But Councillor Kate McGrath from Gunnedah Shire Council says Gunnedah already has round-the-clock policing, and a staffed station is a different thing.
Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson will take the petition to parliament, online and on paper. It follows an online petition with 1846 signatures that was lodged earlier this year. A further paper petition has 324 signatures from Gunnedah businesses.
“The Gunnedah community have had enough of serious incidents of crime robbing them of the right to feel safe in their homes,” said Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson.
“The Gunnedah Police Station was upgraded to allow for growth and now is the time to deliver the police resources Gunnedah needs.”
The petition calls on the NSW Government to allocate the funds and resources needed for a 24-hour police presence at the station.
Mr Anderson also wants police drones in the area.
“In addition to more police, I also want to see police drones operating in the area to help track offenders and keep the community safe,” he said.
“The police drones support boots on the ground by giving police real-time information on offenders, tracking stolen cars and assist in search and rescue operations.”
Cr McGrath said 24-hour policing and a 24-hour station were not the same thing, and her understanding was that 24-hour policing had been in place in Gunnedah for quite some time.
She said it was explained to both herself and Mr Anderson in a meeting with police that technology in police vehicles lets officers patrol and do other required work at the same time, and that officers no longer need to go to a station to do paperwork.
“It’s a much better use of resources to have 24 hour policing, active policing, present in the streets doing their job, rather than having people essentially sitting around doing some administrative tasks at the station,” she said.
She also said she wants to see the results of the police drone pilot in Moree first.
“There’s absolutely a time and place for drones, but I personally want to see the evaluation, want to see the positive and the negative impact of that technology, before demanding that it’s in our community permanently,” she said.
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