Kat Barnes, driving force behind the Narromine Neighbourhood Watch program said “real change” was beginning to happen. 

“Superintendent McKenna has really stepped up to the plate. I can not praise that man enough,” Ms Barnes said. “What he's realised is looking at the stats, and then listening to us, there is a huge problem.”

Superintendent McKenna responded to a number of issues raised, such as reporting crime to reflect statics and having a stronger police presence. 

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He outlined that there was a spike in property offences in April and May, and as a result bolstered policing resources, implementing the use of the Target Action Group, having detective work with the local sector and extending hours of operation. 

“This resulted in us making eight significant arrests of our criminal targets, executing a number of search warrants and proactively disrupting a number of criminals which had an immediate effect on crime being dramatically reduced,” Superintendent McKenna said. 

Ms Barnes said they are now organising a monthly connection between the Narromine Neighbourhood Watch group and police, to communicate what things are being done.

The Neighbourhood Watch group is free and accessible through a phone or computer and will let members know what and when something is happening. Community members can join on Facebook by visiting NarromineNHW. 

Ms Barnes is reassuring that while it was raised at the community meeting that offenders could gain access to this channel, she is working with Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Ian Burns to ensure this does not occur.

She said community members can request to join and they will be asked to answer a checklist. If the admins don’t know someone of if they live in Narromine it will be checked through a police database. “This doesn’t go into people’s histories, it determines if someone lives here or has had a conviction here,” she said. 

“We're doing the best we can on a community level to have the communication open with the honest people and letting them know exactly what's going on.”