WINGHAM will have a renewed police presence from this Sunday February 21 after it was announced our two officers have been rostered back to Wingham Police Station.
The news is a massive win for the town, with residents and business owners hoping a greater police presence will curb a perceived rise in late-night antisocial behaviour in recent months.
Wingham has gone without consistent police patrols since the end of 2009 due to a change in rostering at Taree Police Station. This has meant Wingham’s two policemen – Senior Constable Dave Abbott and Senior Constable Brett Irvine – have been based at the Taree Police Station and only sent to Wingham for specific incidents.
Inspector Allan Fidock, a duty office of the Manning Great Lakes Local Area Command, said the rostering change was necessitated by “operational requirements”.
“There were never plans to close Wingham (Police Station) or permanently remove officers from the town,” Inspector Fidock said. “We only have a finite number of resources at our fingertips and it has been a matter of putting those resources to the greatest use.”
Staff absences, transfers and operational commitments have left the Taree station short on numbers for the past few months. Officers have still patrolled Wingham on a regular basis, given the town’s 10-minute proximity to Taree.
Inspector Fidock said his preference would be for Senior Constables Abbot and Irvine to be available to the Wingham community at all times, and that their placement in Taree was the ‘next best thing’.
“It hasn’t been the most ideal situation for the past few months, but hopefully things have balanced out now,” Inspector Fidock said. “We ourselves would prefer to have officers based at Wingham, so it is good to see the situation sorted out.”
The community thinks so too.
The Wingham Chamber of Commerce wrote to the New South Wales police minister late last year protesting the lack of a police presence in Wingham. Chamber member Donna Carrier said there has been a marked difference in antisocial behaviour when the cops were on duty in town and when they were not.
“It all happens on a Friday and Saturday night,” she said. “People roam the streets heavily affected by alcohol. The vandalism, litter and malicious damage is atrocious.
“Isabella Street sometimes looks like a bombsite on Saturday mornings.”
Ms Carrier, of Bent on Food, also reported earlier this month a number of unknown people damaged several small trees and metal frames along Chamber of Commerce-funded Isabella Street beautification project.
“That was really disappointing,” Ms Carrier said.
“The Wingham business community paid for those trees to beautify the main street. It is just senseless vandalism.”
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