Tamworth crime: arrests up for drug and firearm offences, break-ins to homes and car thefts down in Oxley police

The Leader can reveal the crime rates for 2019 across Tamworth show a reduction in the number of reported break-and-enters to homes; thefts from cars; car stealings; assaults; malicious damage and robberies.

In fact, there has been a downward trend in most major crime categories.

"I appreciate there is a misconception of criminal activity in certain sectors of our community which is perpetuated by loud voices or fuelled by social media, and I am here today to say the results show crime rates are down," Oxley Acting Superintendent Kylie Endemi said in a sit-down interview with the Leader.

"We are consistently and continuously arresting and charging these people and putting them before the court.

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"We have made it a safer environment across the board and the community should take great confidence in that."

In an almost unprecedented number of drug and gun police stings, officers charged 30 people with more than 210 charges for their alleged involvement in the Tamworth "ice castle".

Twelve people face 64 offences as part of the Strike Force Heyward blitz on the party drug scene in pubs and clubs. Another five are charged with drug and rural crime allegations as part of Strike Force Numboidard.

In 2019, the resolution of Strike Force Munderah saw more than a dozen people charged with drug supply; along with a number of other successful operations, Acting Superintendent Kylie Endemi said.

"Operation Southbreak targeting property crime in South and West Tamworth; Operation Radius in each of the towns; Operation Keen in the west of the district; Operation Armour targeting firearms; Operation Wagonwheel in the Quirindi and Werris Creek areas; and Operation Tarzan which targeted illegal hunting and trespassing," she said.

"This is some of the outstanding work our officers are doing in addition to their routine call outs, their day-to-day work; the first response work they have everyday; and can I point out this was on top of Strike Force Glendare which was a devastating fire and homicide of two persons in Tamworth."

Superintendent Endemi warned police won't stop, with every officer in the force committed to getting the job done.

"We have recovered multiple illegal firearms; seized significant quantities of drugs; we have charged people for their alleged involvement and put them before the courts. These are lengthy investigations, culminating in significant numbers of arrests, charges and seizures," she said.

"This is an enormous amount of work by our officers who live and work in these towns; our kids go to school here; we have houses here; we have ownership of our towns and we are committed to driving down crime and stopping the criminal networks."

Social media has fuelled fear in the community, but arrest rates are up.

"We're not resting on our laurels, and we will continue arresting those people who break the law; it's only a matter of time," Superintendent Endemi warned.

"We couldn't have done what we have done without the community assistance and if they can continue to work with us, we can do more."

Superintendent Endemi highlighted officers who arrested two men for allegedly leading police on separate pursuits within minutes in South and West Tamworth before Christmas.

"We charged two men; we had three officers in hospital as a result of their efforts to apprehend those individuals, remove them from our streets and defuse a very dangerous situation," she said.

"Those two incidents were the result of proactive policing of traffic on our roads and it was a team effort of highway officers, detectives, TAG, general duties police consistently putting their lives on the line as part of their job.

"And, that day showed the level of sacrifice of officers to stop the offending, they were injured and they ended up in hospital."

Oxley Detective Acting Inspector Jason Darcy said property crime rates were down for 2019. Operation Southbreak has led the charge and some "individuals have been charged with 40 offences" each.

"There is a core group of juveniles that have been identified, and through Southbreak we are arresting and charging them and putting them before the court," he said.

"This operation has been hampered by persons that have hindered our investigations; hindered the collection of evidence, or protected or hidden wanted persons, who continue to commit these offences.

"But with the community, we have arrested more than a dozen offenders and charged them with multiple offences."

Bail and AVO compliance checks are part of normal day-to-day tasks for officers, and that is helping to deter crime, police said.

Snap blitzes by police are making a dent in repeat offending or opportunistic crime. Superintendent Endemi said Operation Rapidus - which homes in on hot spots and involves every police unit from senior management to general duties. It's seen dozens of charges, wanted persons arrested on warrants and hundreds of infringements issued.

"All of that is proactive; it's about disrupting the criminal activity and deterring repeat offending, and that's is on top of our core functions of emergency management, ongoing traffic operations, our day-to-day work," she said.

The 180-strong Oxley Police District team is made up of general duty officers; detectives; the Target Action Group, crime management unit, licensing police, youth liaison officers and highway patrol officers.

"We have a dedicated youth liaison team and crime management team that work hand-in-glove with PCYC that are extremely important in breaking down barriers between police and youth, and are driving those diversionary programs," Superintendent Endemi said.

"The crime reductions are due to the ongoing efforts of every police officer, in all of our sectors and units."

Long-term Tamworth officer Superintendent Endemi has lead the Oxley force for more than a year. Domestic violence rates are remaining stable, but assaults are down.

"We always see an increased prevalence of domestic violence-related offences in festive season, and the collective work of our DV team and the Western Region high-risk team has seen more compliance checks with bail and AVO orders and our legal action rate for DV-related assaults increase, so we are taking more action against perpetrators," she said.

Detective Darcy said licensing enforcement is up, with help from the local liquor accord. It has been a focus of Strike Force Heyward.

"We have carried out several proactive operations which has seen swift identification of offences and consistent enforcement, and we have put those matters before the court," he said.

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