Figures reveal that in the two years prior to December 2017 statistics in a number of key crime areas fell dramatically in the Dubbo Regional Council local government area.

Most notably, break-and-enters to dwellings dropped 36.1 per cent, break-and-enters to non-dwellings fell 43.6 per cent, motor vehicle thefts declined by 28.6 per cent and instances of items being stolen from motor vehicles dropped 37.7 per cent.

The figures provide a picture as to trends prior to the re-engineering of the region’s policing which saw the formation of the Orana Mid-Western Police District in the same month.

“I’m obviously very happy. Any time there’s a reduction in crime it’s a good thing but when you’re talking 20, 30, 40 per cent reductions, they are significant,” Supt McKenna said.

“Those figures go for two years up to December 2017. The new Orana Mid-Western Police District started in December 2017, it’s been running for three months, and I can tell you now we have improved in all of those areas significantly.

“Crime is being reduced in the district, our proactivity is the highest ever on record, and we’ve done more search warrants in the last three months than most commands would do in a year.

“We’re really attacking crime, we’re throwing resources where they need to be right across this district.

“It’s not just Dubbo-centric now. We look after 21 police stations over 58,000 kilometres and every one of the communities that we police deserves the same amount of police attention and resources.”

Despite the results, Dubbo still has a crime rate above the state average.

That is a statistic Supt McKenna hopes to alleviate 

“Dubbo has been above the state average for a number of years. There’s a lot of reasons behind that, a lot of social reasons that’s not necessarily something that is just about law enforcement,” he said.

“These statistics are all pre-re-engineering, pre the Orana Mid-Western Police District coming to fruition and we’ll be doing everything we can to continue to drive down crime and make these statistics  look even better.

Supt McKenna said the property crime statistics are pleasing and address an area of real concern across the region, especially when combined with disturbing drug supply.

“People don’t want their homes broken into, especially not when they are home. It’s a really significant offence and has a real impact on people when houses are broken into like that.

“In western NSW, property crime is the biggest issue, and when I came here and took over this job that was the area I really wanted to concentrate on.

“Of course personal crime and violent crime is always something we’ll keep at the top of our priorities but we can make an impact on this property crime, which has been an ongoing problem for years.

“There’s cause and effect of drug supply and drug use with property crime offences, and that is why we’re making more arrests for drug supply and possession than we’ve ever made in this area.

“We are attacking the drug suppliers, we’re going after them, and we’re doing more search warrants than ever.”