Oxley Police District confirms three of four new proactive police positions, two domestic violence team positions filled

The Leader can reveal the three officers that will be dedicated to the proactive crime team (PCT) will have boots on the ground in the Oxley district in the coming weeks.

"We picked up four additional proactive crime team positions, we have filled three of them and the fourth position will be filled in the not too distant future," Superintendent Bruce Grassick confirmed.

"That's a big plus for us."

The positions were allocated to the Oxley Police District last year after a campaign by the local police union and community representatives, marking the first permanent boost to the PCT squad in decades.

The push ramped up after a dangerous crime wave rocked the city last year.

Just half-a-dozen PCT officers had been covering an area from Walcha to Willow Tree, but that will soon expand to 10.

The Leader was told the specialist, covert squad can dedicate hours on end to targeting suspected offenders, patrolling hotspots and acting on intelligence.

The PCT officers have been a critical part of Operation Mongoose, the team dedicated to cracking down on property crime right across the district.

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Superintendent Grassick said results from the operation and the focus on prevention and youth issues had been proving positive, with a reduction in property-related offending recorded during the holiday period.

The Oxley Police District picked up a further two positions which were allocated to the domestic violence (DV) team.

"Those positions have been filled and those officers will be kicking off in February, so that's only about a month away now," Superintendent Grassick said.

"They're going to service the entire police district - so they're not just going to service the Tamworth area exclusively, it's our entire police district that DV team will be operating in.

"There are a number of major focuses and one is domestic violence ... it's really front of house in relation to what we do and how we do our business."

Superintendent Grassick said with the two new positions arriving, there was an inwards review being conducted.

It covers how police combat DV, work in the prevention and disruption space, and work with other agencies to ensure people affected by DV are cared for and supported, he said.

"We see some significant trends in relation to domestic violence in our area but the work that we have done across the police district, and under [Superintendent] Kylie Endemi, has seen some inroads in relation to combatting domestic violence in the area," Superintendent Grassick said.

The allocation of the six new experienced police to Oxley was part of the final 550 officers from the 1500 announced by the state government in 2018 to be posted across the state.

It was confirmed they would be allocated to the DV and PCT teams in July last year.

Both teams operate right across the district on deployments to respond directly to needs.

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