Police stations have new faces
THERE are some new faces in the Lower Clarence and they're not hard to pick; they all wear blue.
Maclean and Yamba police stations have three new officers each and Iluka has two.
A policeman with 19 years service under his belt, Sergeant Chris Goodman left Bourke last year to take up a position at Grafton police station.
In November, he was offered the sergeant's position at Maclean.
Sgt Goodman still likes getting his hands dirty. He took the Maclean position because the sergeant-in-charge still goes out on patrol.
"I've got a lot of time for victims; I've stayed on the street my whole time in the police," he said.
"Domestic violence is a big thing with me (as is) mental health issues.
"What keeps me in the job is the sense of being able to help people."
Sgt Goodman said policing was policing wherever you went, but there were subtle differences.
"In Bourke, everything happened in Bourke," he said.
"You'd have home invasions, you'd have serious assaults where there'd be two police investigate at any given time - and usually those police ran with that job because your detectives were limited.
"Up here, you've got the support of Grafton (and) things have got better over the last few months with staff increases. That's a blessing.
"Now that we're getting up to full strength we're having a big impact on crime."
Sgt Goodman said other police friends recommended the move to the Valley.
