Police, Compass Housing and Maitland Council joined NSW Departments of Education, Housing and Family and Community Services in a blitz across Rutherford, Telarah and Aberglasslyn on Thursday.

The issues covered spanned from public housing compliance to traffic, from school attendance to high risk crime offenders and everything in between.

The operation was organised due to a high volume of crime in the area, which is also the largest holding of public housing in the Port Stephens-Hunter police district with 683 homes in total.

Figures released to The Mercury on Tuesday revealed the operation resulted in charges of drug possession, assaulting police, hindering police and resisting arrest and three outstanding warrant arrests.

Police also conducted six warrant inquiries, two high risk offender visits, a jail release action plan, 15 apprehended domestic violence order compliance checks, 12 child protection register compliance checks, five person searches and six licensed premise inspections which led to two licencing breaches.

On the traffic front, 64 random breath tests, nine random drug tests and a vehicle search were conducted, and police issued four vehicle defect notices, four unregistered vehicle infringements, two uninsured vehicle infringements, four speeding offences, four other traffic infringements and a disqualified driver infringement.

Maitland Police officer in charge Chief Inspector Glenn Blain said the idea was to address reports of crime and assist other agencies to improve community safety.

“We’re going to continue running these operations and respond as we need to,” he said.

Eight Compass Housing inspections and 12 Department of Housing were conducted, resulting in the discovery of four unauthorised occupancies, three council referrals, four property care breaches and an unauthorised property alteration. 

Ten home school liaison compliance visits were also organised along with a Department of Family and Community Services visit.

On top of all of that, police also received seven intelligence reports while they were out and about.

The blitz follows similar operations held in Woodberry/Beresfield and Raymond Terrace earlier this year.

Chief Inspector Blain said the operation was an example of the action being taken to combat problems in the community.

“It’s a holistic government approach to various issues,” he said.

“This is the sort of level we’ll go to in the areas that need attention.”

Chief Inspector Blain said police would be keeping a close eye on the crime statistics to determine the effectiveness of the operation.

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