Report of Speakers - Inspector Paul Condon and Sgt Todd Sweeney 18th August, 2014

Inspector Paul Condon (previously Sergeant at Huskisson Police Station) Sergeant Todd Sweeney (currently 2nd In Charge at Huskisson).
Minor incident: ring Huskisson; e.g. traffic complaint 4441 5779. Emergency or significant incident: 000

If Huskisson unanswered, it diverts to Nowra; and is immediately entered on the computer.

• All vehicles have a computer onboard and so get the report as soon as its entered to the system.
There are 2 cars on each day and 2 each night. Nowra also has 2 cars. The vehicles are 1x FWD + 1 caged truck. Unable to be involved in pursuits due to vehicle capabilities. The Highway Patrol with pursuit capable vehicles are not now part of our LAC. Their directives come from Sydney, however they do help out whenever they can on our local roads as well as the Highways. There are more resources coming to patrol the backroads. Daily taskings’ are where all commands discuss what is going on in the region and what needs to be addressed.

In 2006 there were 7 staff at Huskisson. Now 11 staff plus the Sergeant at Husky Police station. Manned till 2am Sun to Thurs and till 4am Friday and Saturdays.
Crime rates locally are significantly down. In the period January to August there were 27 Break & Enters for residential properties and 8 for business/commercial properties. Fraud and Sexual Assault figures have increased but many reportings have also been historical in nature. Statistics can be viewed on their Facebook page. SHOALHAVENLAC

Neighbourhood Watch is now Eye Watch. http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/structure/specialist_operations/operational_communications_and_information_group/project_eyewatch
Positive developments.
- 2 new bicycle patrols have been trained. Useful for patrolling along bike paths. E.g. may ride Sanctuary Point to Basin View. Then transport their bikes to Sussex Inlet to patrol similarly there. However allocation of staff to bike patrols, is dependent upon available staff. E.g. 2 or 3 times per 6 weeks, and more frequently in Summer.
- More officers have been trained in boat safety = Boat shifts where the waterways can be also patrolled.
- “Summer Safe” program has 7 extra police in the Shoalhaven area - 2 extra for Husky, Dec /Jan.

Report crime WHEN ITS HAPPENING; not hours or days later.
Get vehicle rego. Get person description. Get time.
Get direction they went. For burnouts, get vehicle rego.
Be willing to provide police with a statement. Retribution towards witnesses is very rare, and there are serious penalties if offenders harass witnesses.

If the Police don’t witness the incident they can’t charge. But every report and every statement can add weight to a dossier that will be presented when the offender is caught All leave is cancelled for December and January - so all available Police are active.
Police aim to contact victims of crime within 7 days. They are introducing a 28 day case follow-up procedure to keep concerned persons relating to a crime up-to-date with regard to the progress of that charge.
Last week, the Police Minister stated that the aim was to locate a central Police Station at Vincentia.

SCCouncil has received funding for installation of CCTV cameras in Sanctuary Point. Police will not be the primary stakeholders consulted in the location of these cameras, but may be consulted at a later stage. Currently this is not their department.
If incidents (regardless of how small) are not reported then as far as Police are concerned it ‘did not happen’. Report EVERY incident. It helps Police in multiple ways: - to identify patterns and offenders, to identify modus operandi, to build profiles, enables a dossier to be created from information reports, alerts Police on where to target, alerts higher authorities of the need for Police in an area.
The local Police are Pro-Active with community consultations and face to face meetings. Their Media department is responsible for getting information out to the public about Police activities.

TRAFFIC related concerns, e.g.requests for traffic calming devices, unauthorised road use, offences etc contact Traffic Sergeant Mick Tebbutt, who attends Council Traffic committee meetings. tebb1mic@police.nsw.gov.au

If you have any concerns or require a meeting Sergeant Sweeney is available on swee1tod@police.nsw.gov.au Inspector Paul Condon is available on cond1pau@police.nsw.gov.au