The Police Association of NSW (PANSW) Lachlan Branch in conjunction with the Commissioned Police Officer’s Branch is calling on Local Member, Mr Phil Donato from The Shooters and Fishers Party to support their campaign to force the NSW Government to fix the crisis around the transport of prisoners in NSW.
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Police Association Branch Official, Adrian Matthews said our frontline, first response police across NSW are being diverted for extensive periods of time performing prisoner escorts and mental health assessment escorts which is not an efficient use of police time.
“This directly affects the communities of Parkes, Forbes, Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo and villages we live and work in and the service we can provide,” he said.
“Corrective Services and Juvenile Justice NSW should be properly resourced to undertake this function for which they are trained.
When first response police and vehicles are used to transport these people in custody, they may be away from their core duties for a protracted time leaving the community without first response police.
“Police response times and crime rates can be impacted; the result being interaction with local residents is also affected,” Mr Matthews said.
“People see fewer or no frontline police and this greatly reduces the capacity to drive down the real fear of crime felt by many in the community.”
Branch Official David Cooper said not only is community safety put at risk, this situation cuts the available support for other police in an already understaffed policing area.
“We are the only agency tasked to community safety and no one does it when we are out of town doing the work another agency is primarily assigned to do,” Mr Cooper said.
“Our police want to be available to respond to calls for service and protect our communities – not be travelling huge distances and wasting time transporting prisoners to and from jails.
“This is an opportunity for Mr Donato to stand with local police, show your support and protect the community you represent.”
A NSW Government spokeswoman said community safety was the Government's highest priority.
“The Government is committed to developing a solution to prisoner transport issues, and will continue to work closely with affected agencies,” she said.