- Home
- Hansard & Papers
- Legislative Assembly
- 7 September 2006
Northern Beaches Policing
Printing Tips |
Print selected text
| Full Day Hansard Transcript
« Prior Item |
Item 40 of 42
| Next Item »
Page: 1714
Mr ALEX McTAGGART (Pittwater) [5.42 p.m.]: I draw to the attention of honourable members the situation regarding policing in Pittwater and on the northern beaches. In doing so I acknowledge that the statistics indicate a low level of major crime. However, there has been a 122.7 per cent spike in the incidence of break and enter to dwellings, and while there has been a 13 per cent increase in malicious damage to property in the Northern Beaches Local Area Command, in Pittwater the increase is 35.8 per cent. There appears to be a clear anomaly in the allocation of resources. According to the NSW Police web site, the Manly Local Area Command mirrors the Manly local government area, with a population of 38,886, an area of 15 square kilometres and a police strength of 102. The Northern Beaches Local Area Command includes the local Government areas of both Warringah and Pittwater, with a total population of 196,980. Of those, 139,626 are in Warringah and 57,354 are in Pittwater.
The command covers an area of 241 square kilometres, 150 in Warringah and 91 in Pittwater. Yet the command has a police strength of only 198. So Manly, with a population of fewer than 40,000, has 102 officers, and the northern beaches, with an area 16 times greater and a population that is four times greater, has 198 officers. That does not make sense in terms of law enforcement on the peninsula. Then there is the issue of infrastructure. Earlier this year the Department of Commerce announced that it was disposing of Frenchs Forest police station, which houses the highway patrol; Collaroy, which had been closed for 10 years; and Avalon, which has been unmanned for approximately eight years.
The proposed sale of the Avalon police station has caused considerable consternation and anger among Pittwater residents as it is seen as an abandonment of policing at the far northern end of the peninsula. I have had a number of meetings with ministerial officers, local area commanders and officers from the Government's assets section, and I have toured Mona Vale police station with a senior officer from that section and a representative of the Minister for Police to show them first-hand the poor condition of the station. It is worth noting that Mona Vale police station, although a 24-hour station, is manned by a single officer only. The premises are also used on a part-time basis for activities such as tactical response training and gun handling, and there is a large holding yard for vehicles, which includes a forensic investigation facility used for vehicles involved in accidents and needed to be held for evidence. In addition, there are facilities for the Broken Bay water police, who have an office at Church Point but require storage on the Mona Vale site.
I have put a proposal to the Minister's office that the highway patrol located at Frenchs Forest be relocated to Mona Vale, and the detectives and forensic unit at Dee Why be relocated to Mona Vale, thus freeing up valuable space in the overcrowded Dee Why station and increasing the viability of Mona Vale. There should also be a reallocation of uniformed resources from the combined Manly and northern beaches local area commands to provide a greater police presence in the northern beaches villages and more rapid response times at the northern end of the peninsula. A relocation of resources would service the rapidly growing Warriewood Valley, the new Ingleside land release announced last week by the Minister and the villages of Terrey Hills and Duffys Forest, easily accessible up Mona Vale Road.
Preliminary discussions with assets department officers and ministerial advisers indicate that the ample land size at Mona Vale would be sufficient to facilitate not just a new police station but a multifunctional police precinct. The community is also very much opposed to the sale of the Avalon station. As a north ward Pittwater councillor I initiated a rezoning application for it to be rezoned from Residential 2a to Essential Services, but the application was opposed by the police Minister. The community has identified the Avalon station site as being of immense value as there is no surplus government land in Avalon and a drastic shortage of community land and facilities. The community wants it retained in public ownership and for public use.
While the Government wants the site to be sold, it should be pointed out that the police Minister has never made a case for the closure and sale, nor the removal, of a permanent police station at the northern end of the peninsula. In summary, there is a need for a serious review of policing at the northern end of the northern beaches. The current resource allocation needs to be addressed, with serious consideration being given to a greater allocation to Pittwater. Serious consideration also needs to be given to the situation at Mona Vale, which cries out for an upgrade. I must acknowledge the support I have received from Superintendent Doreen Cruickshank, the local area commander, Inspector Dave Walton and the uniformed officers of the Northern Beaches Local Area Command.
Last modified 05/12/2007 16:43:50 : Update this page