Police Intellegence Analyst Positions

POLICE INTELLIGENCE ANALYST POSITIONS
Page: 17634

Mr RICHARD TORBAY (Northern Tablelands—Speaker) [6.30 p.m.]: It is with great pleasure that I address the House this evening. Many members would have attended community safety precinct committee meetings in their electorates. I regularly attend such meetings in the Northern Tablelands, where community representatives hear from the local police about crime statistics and crime-related issues. Apart from alcohol-related offences and some isolated spikes in incidents, on the whole there has been a reduction in most categories of crime across the New England Local Area Command. This success is attributed to good policing, more visible policing, the actions of quick-response units, sympathetic communities and councils, and an overall strategic approach. However, for the past nine months the officers of the New England Local Area Command have been operating under added pressure without one of the key positions they require to retain their strong record in combating crime.

When the command's intelligence analyst transferred in mid December last year, the department gave an undertaking that the position would be filled without delay. It is now almost mid September and that position has not been filled. The New England Local Area Command is the largest of the 11 commands in the Western Division to be without this key position. Intelligence analysts were introduced to the New South Wales Police Force and attached to local area commands as civilian employees in the late 1990s. The concept was to support front-line police with data to help with their planning and tactical response to crime. Everything that I have heard confirms that this initiative has been of the utmost value to our police. The analysts are responsible for operational, tactical and strategic intelligence assessments; risk assessments and trend analysis; target development and research; intelligence support for investigations into major crimes; and crime prevention strategies at a local level. They provide very important information and strategies.

In layman's terms, the analysts' skill in interpreting statistics and other data enables them to anticipate where crimes might occur, to keep track of the movements of known troublemakers, and to detect and even predict patterns of crime. This gives local crime managers a tactical advantage in planning operations. They rely heavily on the analysed data to help at all levels, from petty crime to large drug operations. Now, at the New England Local Area Command officers still have the statistics and the data but no trained expert to interpret them and to assist with their strategic work and planning. Police feel they are flying blind without this support and have lost the edge in combating local crime successfully.

I have been told that the Government has failed to fill the New England Local Area Command position because it is a civilian position and that the delay is due to State budget cutbacks. I believe the Darling River command, which is also in the Western Division, is also waiting to fill an intelligence analyst position. It would seem a dubious saving if incidents of crime increase and police managers and officers are left without a proven valuable resource to assist them with their investigations. It is also self-defeating, as on many occasions the New England Local Area Command operational police officers have had to be deployed to undertake analysis duties, thus depleting the front-line policing response. This is an unacceptable situation. The community shares that view very strongly. If the Government has adopted a strategy of not filling vacant intelligence analyst positions, it should inform the police and the public. I strongly suggest that nine months is too long to wait for this position to be filled at the New England Local Area Command. I urge the Minister for Police and the department to act immediately to remedy the situation.