Rotary Club and Moree council raise funds to buy Barwon police new trail bikes

The new Yamaha Enduro motorcycles will take up residence at the Moree Police Station after generous funding from the Rotary Club of Moree on Gwydir, as well as a grant from Moree Plains Shire Council.

“The Rotary Club of Moree on Gwydir have raised $20,000, and Moree Plains Shire Council through its crime prevention committee have also contributed towards the project which came about after meetings between the community and police,” Barwon Inspector Stuart Campbell told the Moree Champion.

“Concerns were raised by members of the community about the illegal use of motorcycles in Moree and through those discussions, these organisations have decided to donate money for the purchase of two trail bikes.

“It will extend our operational capacity to get into tighter, and rough terrain areas where some of our police vehicles can’t go.”

The new trail bikes will start operations later this month with more officers being put through their training paces.

“The bikes can be used for a variety of policing purposes such as searching drug plantations, rural crime operations, search and rescue, especially since the command is in a rural area, and at any other operation where they could be called upon to assist officers,” Inspector Campbell said.

“We have several staff that are trained on the use of trail bikes and we are training more staff so the motorbikes can be used more frequently.

“In particular, we will be targeting the illegal use and riding of motorcycles across the Moree area.”

During previous police operations, trail bikes have been deployed from outside the command, from stations across the Western Region.

“This gives us full-time capability and police can utilise them at a moment's notice, so we won’t have to wait for extra resources from outside the command to come in when there is an incident,” Inspector Campbell said.

“The trail bikes will be used across the Barwon Command when needed, but will be based out of Moree.”

Inspector Campbell said the donation was community policing at its best.

“This is a great example of local police connecting with the local community. We are part of the community and we listen to their concerns,” he said.

“We’re focusing on safety with this new resource, so we’re hoping to try and prevent accidents with people on motorbikes, and this will allow us to police the streets in a new way.”