The Wellington Police Station has reached its officer capacity for the first time in over five years.
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Including the new officers, there are now 15 officers spread out between the police station and several out-stations in the district.
Orana Local Area Command Acting Superintendent Scott Tanner praised the station’s senior members.
“It was an impressive recruitment process by Senior Sergeant Ross Gibson.
“Mr Gibson didn’t just recruit people who wanted to leave the city, he was able to bring in some some quality officers.
“These new additions to the local force are bringing years of valuable experience which will really help out the officers already here,” Acting Superintendent Tanner said
Senior Sergeant Gibson said the new recruits will be invaluable to the team.
“We’ll be able to service the community so much better than we’ve been able to over the last six months,” he said.
Acting Superintendent Tanner said the entire NSW Police Force is undergoing a review and there had been discussions of a 24-hour station for Wellington.
“We’re very aware of the community talks about a 24-hour station… I do want to stress that there is a long way to go yet before it happens,” he said.
Acting Superintendent Tanner said a minimum of 28 officers would be needed to be able to run the station 24/7.
Acting Superintendent Tanner said that while the station is not currently attended 24 hours a day, there are local officers available if the correct procedures are followed.
“At the moment when the station is not attended, we always have at least two officers rostered on as on-call and can attend scenes as they’re needed.”
He added that – in certain situations – officers coming from outside Wellington could reach town quicker than locally based police.
“If Wellington-based officers were attending a job in Stuart Town or surrounding areas and a call came in for an incident here in Wellington, officers coming in from Dubbo or even a highway patrol car may get there first.
“No matter what the situation is, it will get sorted out quickly,” Acting Superintended Tanner said.