Lachlan and Canobolas Local Area Commands merge to become Central West Police District

Former Lachlan LAC and new Central West Police District Superintendent Chris Taylor wants to personally reassure communities from both areas that the police service provided will not diminish in any way. 

“There will be no change in the way the community sees us, other than we'll be using the re-engineering to better service the community,” Supt Taylor said.   

“With 193 sworn officers across the new district, there is no change in the number of police on the ground targeting those who choose to disrupt the community. 

“We have good crime figures at the moment right across both sectors of the district and it is our intention is to maintain those good figures.” 

The command mergers are part of a re-engineering process across the NSW Police Force. 

It has been occurring in the metropolitan area of Sydney for the last four years and was introduced into the north, south and west regions of NSW towards the end of last year.   

“Re-engineering in Western Region means we’ve gone from 11 Local Area Commands to seven Police Districts,” Supt Taylor said. 

“In the regional areas they are called Police Districts and in the metro areas they are called Police Area Commands.” 

Superintendent Taylor said there will be some changes within the Administration structure which have not as yet been finalised but the major changes to come from the merger have been within the senior management team. 

“We’ve gone from a Superintendent and Duty Officers model to a Superintendent and Officers In Charge model, supported by District Inspectors,” he said. 

Chief Inspector David Cooper has been appointed the officer in charge of Parkes, Inspector Shane Jessep the officer in charge of Forbes, and Chief Inspector Peter Atkins the officer in charge of Orange. 

“That falls in with the Police Commissioner’s vision of wanting local police in local areas, so that people in the community know who their local coppers are,” Supt Taylor said. 

“If they have issues, if they have complaints or even if they have compliments, they know who to come to.” 

The Parkes sector takes in Parkes, Peak Hill, Trundle, Tullamore and Tottenham while the Forbes sector takes in Forbes, Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo and Eugowra.  

The Cowra sector will be coming under the Chifley (Bathurst) Police District.

Chief Inspector Cooper said he is looking forward to the challenge of his new appointment. 

“I’ve been here in Parkes for almost 10 years and I am confident that I know the town and the people and I have established networks,” he said. 

“This is the job I wanted and I was very fortunate to get it.” 

Superintendent Taylor said the merging of the commands provides the opportunity for an expanded Crime Management Unit to deploy officers in support roles across the new district. 

“That includes our Target Action Group (TAG) officers,” he said. 

“If we have a crime spike somewhere or we have a particular public order issue that is occurring for whatever reason, we will be able to draw on police from right across the district to attack the problem.” 

Three hubs are being set up across the state for the purpose of rural crime prevention and investigation which will see an increase in the number of rural crime investigators. 

The hubs will be located at Parkes, Moree and Cootamundra. 

“This means we will have a sergeant and three rural crime investigators with administration support across the district,” Supt Taylor said. 

“Detective Sergeant Andrew McLean will be leading his team from here in Parkes. 

“They will increase our ability to focus on rural crime and support the officers at stations right across the district when dealing with rural crime.” 

Superintendent Taylor said he is hoping some new positions will be available to the district. 

“As part of the reengineering there have been positions identified within the metro area to move to regional NSW,” he said. 

“I believe we will be able to secure some of those positions and use them to create proactive roles in the district to support the police on the ground. 

“Roles like the Regional Enforcement Squad (RES) which have already commenced at Tamworth and Dubbo. 

“I am confident there will be a RES unit working across our district which will also be able to join up with neighbouring RES units for major operations. 

“It will be very useful, particularly in our fight against low and mid level drug supply and property crime which are usually linked. 

“There has also been a high risk domestic violence team established within the Region and they will be working with our DV officers to combat domestic violence and support victims.” 

"Our vision is to reduce crime and the fear of crime within our communities and maintain a high level of engagement with those communities."