We are told that crime rates against people and property in the area are increasing. No-one who lives in the electorate will deny that we have an under-resourced police presence in this area. Not only does this mean people feel less safe in our community, it also means that our serving police officers are under a great deal of stress due to an incredible workload, at great cost to the morale of our local police officers.

It is just common sense that as the population grows, the number of available police also needs to grow. Certainly in some areas of this electorate the numbers of police don't match with the growing population as stated in this newspaper article. Just imagine what could happen in the future to our community safety if we don't improve our police numbers?

What do we as a community want for our local area?

My thoughts are that first and foremost, we want to live in a safe community. We want police visibility on our streets to discourage crime. We want our police to respond to our call in a timely manner, with compassion, efficiency and effectiveness. We want our police to have the time to listen to our problem and act accordingly, without having so many other existing stresses on their mind.

We simply cannot achieve any of these, either now or in the future, unless we have the police numbers to follow through.

Contact me with your thoughts on this issue.

"Vote Local, Vote Liz"