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Debra Wales is Liberal candidate

 

Cr Debra Wales will be the Liberal candidate for Peats in the March State election.

Opposition leader Mr John Brogden made the announcement on a visit to Wyoming Shopping Centre with Cr Wales.

Cr Wales said that, in the Peats electorate, the Coalition planned to put police back on the beat in shopping centres like Woy Woy, Ettalong and Umina.

"As part of this strategy, the Coalition's plan is to put locally-based and locally-led police back into Woy Woy police station, a former patrol command that is now just a base for the highway patrol."

She said Woy Woy railway station would be part of the beat for local police.

Mr Brogden said the re-estabiishment of dedicated beat police would form an integral part of the Coalition's plans for a return to community-based policing on the Central Coast and stopping crime before it happened.

"Beat policing reduces crime and enhances community safety," Mr Brogden said.

"According to Bureau of Crime Statistics figures, crime on the Central Coast has soared since the Carr Government abolished dedicated beat police and downgraded 80 former patrol commands across NSW.

"In both areas robbery with a weapon (not a firearm) also skyrocketed, up by 325 per cent at Gosford.

"The figures clearly demonstrate the Carr Government has not done enough to curb crime on the Central Coast during seven years in Government.

"Under a Coalition Government, beat police will patrol appropriate beaches, shopping centres and railway stations along the Central Coast," he said.

Press release, May 24