Mr Grant said on a Dubbo radio station that a rise in some crime categories wasn't because there weren't enough police, claiming that the number of officers was at an all-time high.

"The policing levels have never been higher than they are now in our region, they have never been higher, we have never had more available police in our region to police these issues," Mr Grant was quoted as saying.

Labor Candidate for Dubbo, Stephen Lawrence, said the latest figures show the Orana LAC is operating with five less officers than 18 months ago while across the western region, there are 31 less active officers.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Grant said he stood by his comments and said he was referring to the overall strength of the NSW Police Force, which reached a record number of 16, 485, in December.

Mr Lawrence said the decline was a worrying "trend" that was making it tough for police to maintain their fight against crime.

"It is a real concern that police numbers have dropped in the last two years and the decline needs to be arrested. It's particularly concerning that we have also seen increases in some categories of crime. I am calling on the government to urgently look into the issue and reverse this trend," Mr Lawrence said.

"In particular I am concerned some small local police stations may have been particularly hard hit. Every police officer we are down means less criminals apprehended and less crime prevented.

"Given the dire and worsening situation with the "ice" epidemic we simply cannot afford for police numbers to be headed in the wrong direction."

Police numbers are measured in three ways. Authorised strength is the number of allocated police positions for a LAC while actual strength records how many of those allocations are filled.

Police operational capacity looks at the number of full-time equivalent officers who are available for duty. It excludes officers who are on long term sick leave, extended leave, maternity leave, leave without pay or suspension.

Orana LAC has an authorised strength of 138 officers and has since 2012, a time when the police were restructuring after highway patrol was separated from LACs.

While authorised strength has remained stable, actual strength and operational capacity has risen and fallen. Actual strength is currently 133 officers, down from a high of 143 in January 2014 and the lowest figure since July 2012.

Mr Lawrence said there was also a decrease in operational strength.

"In December 2014 we were down to 128 FTE officers in Orana and in August 2014 basically the same at 127.7. These are the lowest figures since December 2012 and 5 officers lower than December 2013," he said.

"Region wide in December 2014 we were down to 1075.8 the lowest figure since August 2012 and a shocking 31 officers lower than May 2013."

Mr Grant said the numbers should be compared to when Labor was in power.

"You talk to Assistant Commissioner Geoff McKechnie and see if he thinks the numbers are worse," Mr Grant said.

"My comments were referring to operational strength numbers across the state, which are at record numbers.

"The Labor candidate is splitting hairs here. I don't respond to Stephen Lawrence. I was an HR manager for five years with the police so I think I know better than a lying Labor candidate."