Youth crime, domestic violence and mental health are at the top of the agenda for the NSW Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley, who has wrapped up a tour of the New England region.
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"I've been out and about right across the Oxley district, listening and learning basically," Ms Catley told reporters on Wednesday, July 26.
"Police are working very hard to address societal issues that the community needs to work on collaboratively and collectively like youth crime, domestic violence, mental health."
The minster concluded her three-day listening and learning tour in Tamworth on July 26, after visiting Armidale, Moree and Inverell, where she met with local police and communities to hear their concerns.
Ms Catley said she would discuss the steps forward to tackling crime in regional communities with a collaborative "whole of government" approach when she returned to parliament.
"I'll be taking what I've learned from this trip back to my colleagues, and discussing better ways we can, as a government, address these community and societal issues that police are often at the forefront of," she said.
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Ms Catley cited Moree as an example of a successful police operation in the region, where multiple police were sourced from Tamworth and other areas to tackle a spate of break-and-enters and car thefts earlier this year.
"They [police] tell me just in the last few days the operation has been very successful," Ms Catley said.
"Police are definitely paying attention to youth crime and doing what they can, not only from a policing perspective but also from a community policing perspective."
Ms Catley echoed the advice from local police, asking people to lock their cars and houses, and to report any and all criminal activity.
The minister said she would compile a response following her visit to the region and deliver it at the two-day Gunnedah Crime Prevention and Community Safety Conference in November.
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