THE region’s assistant commissioner says a strong show of the force is needed and “justified” to tackle the crime plaguing the Moree community.
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Assistant Commissioner Geoff McKechnie told Fairfax Media the extra police that swamped the town again on the weekend as part of Operation Claymore was “a significant deployment”.
Police from the dog squad, New England, Castlereagh, Orana as well as the police transport command backed Barwon police to target known offenders and disrupt rising property, drug and violent crime.
“The statistics speak for themselves in terms of the number of person searches, and the known offenders that have been targeted as part of the operation, that’s certainly having an impact on the level of volume crime in Moree,” Assistant Commissioner McKechnie said.
Of concern, we’re still seeing rock throwing incidents occurring in the town which we are certainly targeting during those Claymore deployments.
- Assistant Commissioner Geoff McKechnie
Eight people were charged during the two-day operation and an 11-year-old boy will front court next year after allegedly setting fire to a granny flat.
Police also served a firearm prohibition notice, carried out 64 person searches and issued a raft of infringements for various offences.
Assistant Commissioner McKechnie acknowledged there was a crime problem in the town but the show of force is disrupting the criminal networks in the town, and the resource deployment is being reviewed.
“We still believe the deployments are justified,” he said. “We're getting some really good feedback from the community, statistically we're seeing a disruption there in terms of crime, and we are continuing to look at how we deploy our police up there to target this particular group of offenders who are causing grief for the community.”
Acting Superintendent Scott Tanner has taken charge of the Barwon area for the festive season and said the high-visibility blitz would continue. “The message is clear, anti-social and criminal behaviour will not be tolerated by the police or by the community,” he said.
