Burwood and Ashfield Local Area Commands (LACs) will be merged as part of a “re-engineering” process allegedly intended to reduce management costs.

The merger comes as Burwood LAC ranks in the highest band in the state for incidences of robbery (http://bit.ly/1hgbhB7); and Ashfield sees a rise in offences such as stealing from retail stores (http://bit.ly/2fCU2qy). 

The merger also follows the announcement that the Government is consolidating ambulance services in the inner west in a new Superstation in Haberfield and the disastrous amalgamation of local councils.

The decision to significantly change the way the two LACs operate has been made without consultation with the community.

Labor MP’s Jodi McKay, Jo Haylen and the Shadow Minister for Police, Guy Zangari, have slammed the decision as short-sighted cost cutting and called on the Police Minister to confirm the merger will see no reduction in police numbers.

Comments attributable to Guy Zangari, Shadow Minister for Police and

“Information has been slowly making its way out of the police department that stations will be closed and LAC’s merged as part of this restructure.

“You’d think the Government would have learned from their failures following the forced Council amalgamation debacle. But here we go again.

“The Minister for Police must end the secrecy and immediately confirm that these LAC’s are being merged and whether front line Officers will be affected.”

Comments attributable to Jodi McKay, Member for Strathfield

“Both these LACs are at the frontline of keeping our communities safe and secure.

“At the same time as inner west suburbs are seeing incredible population growth, the Government is stripping back core services like policing. It just doesn’t make sense.

“This is a significant decision that involves changing how our police services operate in the Inner West, yet the community hasn’t been informed and we’ve found out about the restructure through gossip. That’s simply not good enough when we’re talking about keeping our community safe.”

Comments attributable to Jo Haylen, Member for Summer Hill

“Ashfield LAC has done an amazing job working with the local community and must be allowed to continue as they are.

“This decision is all about cost-cutting and residents are right to question whether our community will be less safe as a result.

“Local police officers and residents are anxious this will leave our communities less safe. 

“This is yet another attack on the inner west.”