BUSH NOW HIT BY CRIMES ONCE THE PRESERVE OF THE CITY

The MP for Dubbo, Mr Gerry Peacocke, recalls when the only crimes in Dubbo
were minor burglaries and violence fuelled by alcohol.

But, particularly over the past couple of years, there has been a marked
increase in armed hold-ups and crimes traditionally seen as the norm in the
city.

Now service stations and shops in Dubbo have city-style security apparatus,
and there are more burglaries than ever. "As drugs appeared ... it became
more common to see hold-ups with knives and needles," Mr Peacocke said.

Last Wednesday a young man young died after overdosing on drugs at one of
Orange's biggest shopping centres. The MP for Orange, Mr Russell Turner,
said it was a sign of the times that the operators of the shopping centre
had almost shrugged and said "what can we do about it?"

Country MPs and the NSW Police Association have called on the Government to
get its anti-drugs focus off Sydney and to allocate more police to country
areas to combat rising heroin problems.

The MPs have also called for the creation of rehabilitation facilities for
heroin addicts in the country.

Independent Tamworth MP Mr Tony Windsor said while the Government had
highlighted street operations in Cabramatta to show how it was fighting the
drug problem, police in the bush were doing their best but did not have the
resources to deal with the problems.

"Ten years ago this was a problem Sydney had - now it's one we have all
got," Mr Windsor said. "You guys respond to it - the media come in and say,
'Look at this great police operation that's happening at Cabramatta', but
Cabramatta's everywhere ... some of our stuff from up here comes from
Cabramatta."

The Police Association says an under-resourcing of all local area commands
means police are too busy dealing with the symptoms of heroin - such as
burglaries and armed robberies - rather than detecting and arresting drug
dealers.

The president of the association, Mr Mark Burgess, said: "Our argument is
there is a need for more resources right across the State. We believe we
have got an irrefutable argument for 2,500 extra police over the life of the
next government."

But the Police Minister, Mr Whelan, said more police was not the answer.

The answer was to stop the importation of drugs, and the Federal Government
had to commit resources to that task.

"I'm not disputing it's a massive problem," Mr Whelan said. "But to suggest
it's going to be solved by having 300 police living and working out of Dubbo
... it's not going to solve the problem until you stop the heroin coming
into Australia.

"Until we can try and stop the importation of it, we are going to be faced
with this massive social problem, which involves death and family
breakdown."

Mr Whelan said there were adequate resources in the country and recent drug
operations had been successful.

Coffs Harbour had the second highest number of drug arrests in the State
after Cabramatta, and operations had recently netted many arrests in Orange
and Dubbo, with Dubbo's crime rate falling last year as a consequence.

Mr Burgess said police had identified three main sources of drug supply to
the bush - Sydney, Adelaide and Victoria, with the latter two being the
source further west and south. Local police spoken to by the Herald saw
Cabramatta as a big supply area.

Superintendent Jim Cranna, the local area commander for the mid-North Coast,
said: "I would enjoy more police if I had more police. I think any local
area commander would."

Crime wave: Break and enter offences have increased in many large country
centres which are experiencing problems with heroin

1995 1996 1997 Dubbo
666 682 999 Orange
319 379 451 Bourke
155 154 167 Coffs Harbour
315 531 441 Newcastle
1664 2125 2012