If our men and women in blue say they need help, it’s in this community’s interest to listen and apply the necessary political pressure.
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In an interview with Fairfax Media this week, the Hunter’s NSW Police Association representative Dean Koenig said the Central Hunter local area command, which encompasses Maitland and Cessnock, needs at least 20 more officers on the ground.
And Mr Koenig doesn’t mean new recruits like those who have graduated from the police academy in Goulburn in the past week. He believes experienced officers are what this region needs.
From the outset, it’s important to clearly state that neither Mr Koenig’s comments or Fairfax Media’s mean to criticise or otherwise put the boot into the hard-working working police – from officers on the beat through to senior management – who are on the ground in Maitland and Cessnock.
Mr Koenig put this sentiment well when he said: “Jesus Christ could sit in the commander’s chair and still not make it work.”
Shining a light on the working conditions of police is about making sure they go to work every day and face a reasonable workload so they are able to better serve our communities.
The reality is, if the Police Association believes the Central Hunter command needs 20 more officers at a minimum, that’s a concern – especially when this represents about 12 per cent of the staff currently employed in the region.
Given the high arrest rate and concerning domestic violence rate in Maitland, where police receive an average of one domestic violence-related call-out every hour, this is an important issue that needs to be addressed by those in power in Macquarie Street.
A NSW Police spokesperson told Fairfax Media that the Central Hunter command was at full operational capacity, which means all the allocated staff positions are occupied.
So this clearly points to a resource problem that could easily be fixed, if the state government turned its attention the Hunter’s way.
Even without the exacerbating factors of high arrest and domestic violence rates, the region’s rapidly growing population should be activating the alarm bells for the government.
This issue is too important, for the police and the community at large, to allow our representatives in government to sit on their hands.
