The commander of about 200 officers from 17 police stations across 3 Local Government Areas that encompass the Coffs Clarence Police District, Superintendent Joanne Schultz, revealed some informative and interesting insights into crime in the region at Sunday’s community meeting.

The 2024 Australian Police Medal recipient told those who attended the top 2 issues she and her officers focused on currently in the district were Domestic Violence and Youth Crime.

She said the Coffs Clarence Police District covers an area from Urunga to Iluka, around 12,000 sq km.

“It does mean that the police that are working in the Coffs Clarence Police District are working extremely hard, just to cover the needs of the community, to respond to calls for service, to investigate crimes, all of those things that are key to performing our role,” she said.

Supt Schultz said across the Coffs Clarence police district there were about 16,000 young people aged between 10 and 18, but only between 30 and 50 young people were at the ‘pointy end’ and considered serious, repeat offenders.

“The vast majority of young people are still going to school, playing sport, listening to their parents, and being very good, young citizens,” she said.

“We are very much focusing on that small minority of young offenders that are causing us a lot of issues.”

Supt Schultz said Operation Soteria, launched last week to address an escalation of violence in offenders aged between 11 to 16 years of age, across Western and Northern parts of the State, came together as a result of previous police operations.

She said the Coffs Clarence PD had been working with the Richmond and Tweed Byron Police Districts for many months on youth crime through Operation Imperium where information was shared across commands.

“We’ve identified that a lot of young people don’t stay within boundaries, they’re not from Yamba, Maclean, or other areas, they’re from out of town and they will actually come into these areas and commit serious crime,” she said.

“NSW Police is pooling all of its resources to focus on this issue and hopes to get some good results for the community.”

Currently policing is broken into three areas, Supt Schultz said, Prevention, Disruption, and Response.

“Prevention is all about trying to divert people away from committing offences or the criminal justice system, and it works in some cases, but not in all,” she said.

Supt Schultz said the disruption phase was all about being proactive, performing patrols, following up intelligence, applying the Bail Act, doing overtime in ‘Vikings Operations’, and identifying crime hot spots in tasking and deployment meetings.

“We will try to bail refuse, pretty much in every opportunity where we can,” she said.

“If the court imposes bail conditions, we will follow up with bail compliance checks and follow up with those young people to make sure they are complying with their bail conditions, and if not, where possible, we will arrest them and put them back before the Court to reconsider that bail decision.”

If a person reports being a victim of crime, Supt Schultz said in the response a crime scene team will attend, collect evidence, canvass the area, collect CCTV, speak to witnesses, and if they have sufficient evidence, they will get a warrant to search a suspect’s home.

In mid-2024, Supt Schultz said they examined rostering and in December a trial was commenced with 24-hour car crew coverage for the Lower Clarence police area of Iluka, Yamba, Maclean, and Lawrence.

“The goal is that we increase our numbers sufficiently in the Lower River that the police that you see in the Lower River will be the one that you see regularly,” she said.

This includes new Probationary Constables for the valley.

“We are being allocated a number of probationers in May, that’s when the next class attests, so we are allocating a Probationary Constable to Yamba, and 2 Probationary Constables to Grafton,” Supt Schultz said.

While social media has its benefits in keeping communities connected, Supt Schultz warned of its downfalls.

“I sometimes worry that social media over inflates and over amplifies a situation, as far as things that have happened,” she said.

“I do see some of the commentary and things that are said…a lot of that is not accurate.

“Unfortunately, there is misinformation and disinformation at times.”

This article appeared in Clarence Valley Independent, 26 March 2025.