Last week’s announcement of Gary Worboys’ appointment as deputy commissioner (country) was the first step in a drastic realignment of police resources, which should bolster officer numbers in all rural commands, including Orana Local Area Command.

Earlier this month there had been rumblings about industrial action within the Orana LAC over a desire for more officers.

Under the level one action, officers would have used discretion when handing out tickets for minor road infringements, but the swift work of new Commissioner Mick Fuller in announcing his deputies, plus the filling of vacancies within the command, has put those plans on hold.

Mr Worboys will be based out of Dubbo, with Mr Grant saying it is a history-making time for policing in NSW.

“Deputy Commissioner Worboys will be living here, he will know our issues and it is a coup for Dubbo and our whole area,” said Mr Grant, who is also the Member for Dubbo.

“This is a new model, it’s never happened before, and I’m really proud that it has happened during my tenure within the role of police minister.

“We will have the best of both worlds because we are getting the Deputy Commissioner, and we also maintain Geoff McKechnie as our Western Region commander.

“Geoff would be disappointed that he didn’t get the job, but he and Gary Worboys have a great relationship and respect for each other and I think this new structure will work very well.

“(Acting Superintendent) Scott Tanner has done a tremendous job in filling a number of vacancies within the Orana LAC, we’ve got four new recruits working here, and I’m pretty certain under Mick Fuller’s realignment with his new deputies that we will have a lot of new resources filtering in to the Orana command.”

Gary Worboys will start his new role on May 28.