AFTER the recent community meetings with Police, community members who are of the understanding that the Lemon Tree Passage Police Station will stay open, are alarmed that this this may not be the case.

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With the proposed amalgamation of Port Stephens and Maitland into one larger command, it’s believed the Police Association gained the impression from more senior officers at a recent meeting that outlying stations may be a thing of the past.

Long time community worker and campaigner for ‘Better Policing’ Doreen Bradley explains, “The best policing out here was seen when we had a resident police officer who would come on duty at any time to fix serious problems.”

“Once community policing was done away with and centralised in Maitland we got big problems,” she said.

“A call to our local station would be flick-passed onto Maitland and we ‘prioritised.’

“This meant that a day or two later officers would respond,” Ms Bradley said.

“Crime flourished and it was only when we were able to get Port Stephens Command hived off that things improved.”

“Any attempt to shut our station or move officers to a central location will see a community backlash.”she said.

“We want to work with the police service for better outcomes,” she added.

By Geoff WALKER