Police take on extra burden

REMEMBER back in those heady days of January and February when all you had to worry about was your car getting stolen?

It seems like an eternity for most of us since the centrepoint of community angst was around spiralling levels of youth crime and what the State Government was going to do about it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and our local law enforcement doesn’t just have groups of juvenile gangs holding up bottle shops in their place, it has a pandemic and all the unfortunate bells and whistles that come with that.

From roadblocks, to checking that people in the tragically growing Centrelink queue are socially distancing, to ensuring the businesses told to close up are doing so, it has added a whole gamut to its role – let alone law and order.

But the region’s top cop, Chief Supt Brian Huxley, is adamant they can cope. That is in the face of police revealing fresh figures yesterday about the growing number of robberies in the city – particularly involving bottle shops.

Those businesses are facing challenges of their own and the Crown Hotel’s Nikki Britain said the entire industry was now a target.

Two staff at a Liquorland in Mooroobool were allegedly assaulted on Monday night by youths, one aged just 10.

Police have now added to their todo list working with those businesses around the city to help them keep their staff safe.

We are in uncertain times and with that comes a new level of crime and we need to have faith in those who protect us.

The least we can do is not add to their unprecedented workload. Grace Mason Reporter