A HUGE pile of community letters and written comments from an online poll were tabled at a meeting of the Orana Mid Western North Branch of the NSW Police Association held in Coonamble last week.
The branch meeting on Thursday 18 April was attended by non-commissioned officers from Coonamble, Gulargambone, Mendooran and Gilgandra.
Serving police at Coonabarabran, Baradine, Dunedoo, Coolah, Binnaway, and Tooraweenah are also branch members.
The meeting was chaired by Carlton Kopke, who is based in Mendooran and has been assisting recently in Coonamble.
Two of the items on the agenda related to ongoing staffing issues at the Coonamble/Gulargambone station and the meeting voted to support a submission for Coonamble to be returned to Special Remote Status as well as backing a request for five more constables to be based in the town.
“We had at least 300 letters to support our submission,” said branch representative Fiona Ozols. “Coonamble Police and the Orana Mid Western North Branch of the Police Association have been blown away by the support from the community.”
“It is a much happier place to work knowing the community has your back even though we don’t always get the results we’d like,” Ms Ozols said.
“We asked for Special Remote Status in our submission but there has been a working party formed to review the remote/special remote stations statewide,” she said.
“Essentially, special remote or additional incentives is what is putting the brakes on everything.”
“We are looking to initiate a conversation with the Inspector in charge of the working party to ensure Coonamble, and stations like Coonamble, are in the front of his mind when making a decision,” Ms Ozols said.
“We will forward all our material to him.”
In the meantime, the response to the request for additional positions has been met with an encouraging response from Peter McKenna, Commander of the Orana Mid Western Police District.
“Regarding further positions and special remote status, the two go hand in hand,” Mr McKenna said.
“Currently the NSWPF has a working party underway reviewing Special Remote issues, including locations where such incentives for recruitment should be placed.”
“Coonamble is at the forefront of this review and I am confident that any review will reveal that Coonamble should be prioritised in this regard,” he said.
“I have made a commitment to Coonamble Police that I will continue to resource Coonamble with officers from across the Police District as they are needed.”
Mr McKenna said this includes assisting with Prisoner Transportation to alleviate the issue of local police leaving their communities for unacceptable lengths of time as well as assisting local police with arrest operations and continuing to bring proactive and targeted operations to the Coonamble/Gulargambone sectors.
“Upon the Special Remote review being complete, then we can re-assess staffing numbers in the sector with a view of greater likelihood of recruitment and retention,” Mr McKenna said.
Police Association members now hope that depending on state-wide staffing allocations it is possible that Coonamble could see an additional position from as early as July this year.
