Petition wants police back at Moruya station during business hours

A petition calling for police to staff the station's front desk is being coordinated by Moruya Neighbourhood Watch.

The group say a renewed police presence in the town will help drive down an increase in crime.

Theft related crime jumped about 30 per cent in Moruya between 2022 and 2023 while crime statistics reveal breach of bail offences have risen more than four times since 2020.

Bega MP Dr Michael Holland will present the petition to NSW parliament once it reaches 500 signatures. He said like most law enforcement and emergency service workers, the modern approach is for mobile units deployed as needed.

"They would like that front door to be open and what they used to have in the old days for someone in a uniform writing down on paper what had happened - that's not modern policing," he said.

"We have the main unit at Batemans Bay, we have Moruya, one at Bodalla, a unit small there, and we have Narooma - they are spread out.

In a statement, a spokesperson for NSW Police said "stations in regional NSW have a range of operating hours including full 24/7 head stations and smaller sector stations with operating around service demand and community need."

"The community can be assured that all police vehicles serve as mobile police stations and can respond based on demand. The safety and wellbeing of the community remains our priority."

The push for more police on the ground in Moruya comes as NSW faces a critical shortage of officers. More than 1,500 roles remain vacant and more than double that number have left the force in recent years.

Plans to help fix the shortage include lowering age limits for recruits and poaching police from other jurisdictions.

The shortage is being felt in the nearby Illawarra police district where Police Association of NSW president Kevin Morton said detectives are filling frontline staffing roles.

Residents heard from police, victims of crime and Dr Holland on Thursday, April 18, at a community meeting at the Moruya Golf Club.

Dr Holland said the meeting was collaborative and set about working out possible solutions to the issues raised.

"Their (South Coast Police District) message on the night was if we're in the office, we're not really doing our job," he said.

"The fact that we are not in the office means we're out in the community doing our job as a mobile adaptable type of police force.

"I think you'll find particularly in an older community there's that sense of security. (There's the perception) if the door isn't open there's no one doing the job."