Meeting announced amid dispute over police numbers

A community meeting with Member for Gosford Ms Kathy Smith and representatives from the NSW Police will be held at Ettalong Diggers Memorial Club on April 6.

Ms Smith announced the meeting while drawing attention to the fact that the number of officers in the Brisbane Water Local Area Command had fallen by 40 between 2011 and 2016.

"Latest figures from NSW Police, reveal that when Labor left office in 2011, the authorised strength of the Brisbane Water LAC stood at 236, but in January of 2016, this number had declined to 196," Ms Smith said.

"Police are bracing for further cuts, as the Minister for Police announced an audit of police resources to be conducted by Accenture Consulting," she said.

"Accenture were responsible for recommending the slashing of 2500 police jobs in the UK under a similar audit."

The decline in police numbers has occurred at the same time as a sharp rise in drug-related crime, according to Ms Smith.

"In the Gosford Local Government Area alone, the number of drug offences has doubled in just five years," she said.

"The Central Coast has already suffered from five years of declining police numbers under this Liberal Government.

"Our police do an amazing job and need to be supported in the face of increasing drug-related crime.

"It is time for [the minister] Mr Troy Grant to stop playing with the numbers and deliver additional police for the Central Coast," Ms Smith said.

NSW Police Media issued a statement saying that the "drop" of 40 officers was due to a restructure and that the officers still served the Brisbane Water area.

It said the overall number of officers serving the area had actually risen.

"The Brisbane Water Local Area Command authorised strength reduced by 40 from 236 to 196 between March 2011 and February 2016 due to the restructure of the Highway Patrol and Transit functions within the NSW Police Force," the statement said.

"The number of Highway Patrol officer positions based in the Brisbane Water area increased from 24 to 25 between March 2011 and February 2016.

"The number of transit (now called transport) positions in the area increased from 16 to 20.

"The total number of authorised positions based in the Brisbane Water area increased from 236 to 241 between March 2011 and February 2016."

Media release, 26 Mar 2016

Kathy Smith, Member for Gosford

Email, 30 Mar 2016

Danny Sullivan, Brisbane Water Local Area Command

Reporter: Jackie Pearson