NSW Police has launched the first phase of its summer safe campaign, warning residents to plan ahead and to expect a different holiday experience this summer.
The Police said Operation Summer Safe was a high-visibility operation which would be in place for the duration of the current school holidays and the following summer months throughout regional NSW.
“Operation Summer Safe will focus on policing licensed premises, public spaces and entertainment precincts in an effort to decrease anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related violence, whilst also ensuring adherence to current Public Health Orders,” the Police said
“Road safety will also be a focus of Operation Summer Safe, with Traffic and Highway Patrol officers to assist police districts with targeting speeding, drink and drug driving, driving while fatigued, mobile phone and other traffic offences,” it said.
The Police’s Northern Region Commander, Assistant Commissioner Max Mitchell urged all NSW residents who either lived in regional areas, or were planning to visit, to expect a regional holiday with a difference.
“We are all aware of the additional risks that the COVID-19 pandemic poses, with tens of thousands of people moving about the State and the additional risk of community transmission ever present,” Assistant Commissioner Mitchell said.
“We must not forget that the virus doesn’t follow borders restrictions and hotspot declarations and – when families take a holiday closer to home this year – we have to keep our regional citizens in mind,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner Mitchell said coastal towns would be also be a focus of the Operation, as local police would work closely with Councils and NSW Surf Lifesaving to ensure social distancing was observed at beaches and ocean baths.
Southern Region Commander, Acting Assistant Commissioner Dean Smith, said police were ready for the influx of visitors to Southern NSW in the coming months.
“For us to move through this phase of the pandemic, our communities and visitors to the region need to work with us – not against us,” A/Assistant Commissioner Smith said.
“We certainly want people to enjoy themselves and everything that our region has to offer, but in a responsible and considerate manner,” he said.
Operation Summer Safe is to run continually from now to the end of summer in February 2021.
