Member for The Entrance, Mr David Mehan, has released information which shows that Police numbers on the Central Coast have declined since 2011, and are now below the state and national average.
“The State Liberals have sought to conceal the details of police numbers on the Coast by referring questions on notice, tabled in Parliament, to the Police website, which only reports figures back to 2015”, Mr Mehan said. He said a recently released Productivity Commission report reveals that on average, NSW has 239 police officers for every 100,000 citizens, and nationally, there are 274 police per 100,000 citizens. “As the figures show, the Central Coast is well below this average at only 119 police per 100,000 citizens,” he said.
“The Liberal Government has tried to hide the truth about Police numbers on the Central Coast. “The figures obtained from the Parliamentary Library by my staff are clear, the Coast has lower police numbers than the state and national average. “Central Coast Local Area Commands are under-staffed and overstretched. “NSW Labor supports the NSW Police Association in their call for a major increase in officers over the next five years. Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Mr Scot MacDonald, has been asked to respond.
Source: Media release, Feb 19 Alfat Karnib, office of David Mehan