Tamworth has high expectations the NSW government will do more than just discuss its petition on law-and-order issues and offer compliments to the community for its proactive approach in bringing this deeply concerning matter to the parliament’s attention.
It is possible the debate will only occupy about 15 minutes of the parliament’s time when the petition and its contents are raised in the Legislative Assembly at 4.30pm today.
Residents will be looking for responses to the issues, all clearly defined in a document which contains nearly 18,000 signatures.
To its credit the government has already moved on the request for additional police.

By Isabel Hayes

SYDNEY, May 8 AAP - A former bikie accused of torching a police paddy wagon is back behind bars after a Supreme Court judge overturned a magistrate’s bail ruling.
On Tuesday, Justice Peter Garling ruled the “protection and welfare of the community” outweighed Scott Allen Orrock’s right to bail.
The granting of bail last month provoked the ire of NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell, who said the local court decision sent the wrong message when police were cracking down on violence linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Mr O’Farrell, Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione and the NSW Police Association welcomed the judge’s decision.
“This decision will help restore public confidence in the judicial system’s ability to uphold community standards,” Mr O’Farrell said in a statement on Tuesday.

SYDNEY, May 2 AAP - The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) says it does not have the resources to investigate the controversial shooting of alleged joyriders in Sydney’s Kings Cross.
Police shot at a stolen Honda as it drove along a footpath, hitting two pedestrians, on Darlinghurst Road on April 21.
The bullets wounded the 14-year-old male driver and a 17-year-old male front seat passenger.
Both teenagers and several back seat passengers were charged over the incident and police have launched an investigation into the conduct of the officers involved.
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said he’d rather see an independent body such as the PIC look at the incident.

SYDNEY, May 2 AAP - Police have started patrolling Sydney’s trains, buses and ferries as part of a NSW government plan to improve safety for commuters.

Police Minister Michael Gallacher said the first 300 of a 600-strong Police Transport Command started work on Tuesday.

Police are continuing a recruitment drive, internally and externally, to find the additional officers who are expected to be in place by 2014.

The initial 300 officers have been relocated from police stations to seven hubs along the transport system, three in Sydney’s CBD and four others between Wollongong and Newcastle.

Transit officers will still be employed to stop fare evasion and minor offences, and will patrol buses and ferries as well as trains.

SYDNEY, April 26 AAP - A man has been found on a median strip on Sydney’s Hume Highway, suffering multiple stab wounds.
The man was discovered on the highway in Bankstown just before 9.30pm (AEST) on Thursday.
He was rushed to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition with multiple stab wounds, police said.
A crime scene has been established and police are canvassing the area to find out what happened.
In the meantime, motorists are being told to avoid the area.
Anyone with information that may assist investigators should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

SYDNEY, April 27 AAP - The only adult in a Kings Cross joyride that ended with police shooting two teenagers has been refused bail in a Sydney court.
Matthew Dalton, 24, appeared in Central Local Court on Friday via an audio-visual link on a charge of being a passenger in a stolen vehicle that triggered a dramatic police shooting last Saturday.
In refusing bail, magistrate Janet Wahlquist said she agreed with police concerns that Dalton could offend again.
“The circumstances of the offence are serious,” Ms Wahlquist told the court.
“I think if convicted, he would be serving a jail sentence.”
Dalton and five boys, the youngest aged 13, were travelling in a stolen Honda Civic on Darlinghurst Road when it mounted the footpath in an attempt to evade police, mowing down two pedestrians.

SYDNEY, April 25 AAP - An alleged Comanchero bikie has been charged with firearms offences after being arrested at gunpoint in Wollongong.
The 25-year-old man was a passenger in a Holden Commodore that police pulled over in Church Street about 3am (AEST) on Wednesday.
Police carried out a breath test on the 32-year-old female driver and discovered her licence was suspended.
Officers noticed the man becoming agitated and found a gun hidden under his clothing.
He was charged with three firearms offences and is due to appear at Wollongong Local Court on Thursday, having been refused bail.
The female driver was charged with driving with a suspended licence and is due at the same court on May 22.

SYDNEY, 24 April AAP - Bikie gangs are using young or aspiring members to carry out the drive-by shootings that are plaguing western Sydney, senior police say.
Two young men believed to be associates of the Hells Angels club will front court on Tuesday over a shooting that occurred in Merrylands on Monday.
Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon says senior members of bikie gangs often instruct lower-ranking or aspiring members to carry out tit-for-tat shootings.
“The outlaw motorcycle gang culture in general tends to use people that are young, or peripheral members of the group, rather than the main members,” he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

SYDNEY, April 22 AAP - An underworld figure has been shot dead in a suburban street as a feud over a relatively minor debt erupted into Sydney’s latest case of violent gun crime.
The victim, a Bankstown man aged in his late 30s, was shot with a pistol several times at close range as he got out of his car in Riverwood, in the city’s southwest, on Saturday night.
Superintendent Stephen Blackmore said the deceased was well-known to detectives attached to Operation Spartan, set up in January to investigate Sydney’s recent surge in gun crime.
“The victim has previously been involved in public place shootings,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Supt Blackmore said the shooting was over a personal debt.

SYDNEY, April 20 AAP - Two police officers have been injured after being hit by a stolen car in a hit-and-run incident in Sydney’s west.
One was dragged by the car when the driver suddenly reversed, the other was hit with the vehicle as the driver charged at him before fleeing the scene.
The officers were patrolling an industrial area in Little St in Smithfield about 9pm (AEST) on Thursday when they saw two vehicles - a Ford Telstar and Toyota Corolla - parked close together.
As an officer approached the open driver’s side door of the Ford, he was informed via radio the car was stolen.

EXCLUSIVE by Alicia Wood
POLICE could get an even greater pay rise than the 5 per cent they have asked for, ministers fear.
The Industrial Relations Commission could move to condense its ruling that police are eligible for a 15 per cent pay rise over three years, instead giving them 15 per cent over two years - or 7.5 per cent a year - senior government sources revealed yesterday.
It comes amid claims the IRC is using the police pay deal to get square with Premier Barry O’Farrell after he ordered the commission to cap public sector wages at 2.5 per cent - virtually stripping it of its power.
“There are concerns the IRC could, instead of ordering an award of 5 per cent per year for three years, condense the award down to two years which would see the increase cost the government considerably more,” the source said.

 
By Vincent Morello, Police Reporter

SYDNEY, April 13 AAP - Military assault rifles illegally imported into Australia have heightened concerns over the shooting spree that continues to plague Sydney.

Specialist officers have seized 20,000 rounds of ammunition, gun parts to assemble 20 AR-15 rifles and equipment to manufacture more bullets and convert the guns to fully automatic weapons.

Police believe the weapons are of the same type that mass murderer Martin Bryant used to kill 35 people at Port Arthur in 1996.

Acting NSW deputy police commissioner of specialist operations Dave Hudson said the 11 shootings in Sydney in April forced officers to dispense with protocol and raid two properties on Thursday before their initial investigation was over.