And the reports of residents being targeted by others in the neighbourhood do not make attractive reading.

Recent attacks have ranged from soiled nappies being placed in a mailbox to bricks being thrown through the window of a home, narrowly missing a baby sleeping inside.

It is a way of life that is completely foreign to most people living in the city, but it is not foreign to our police.

Officers have confirmed that they are well aware of some of the social problems plaguing parts of the city and say they are doing all they can to keep on top of them.

And while a regular and highly visible police presence certainly has a calming effect on the community, that alone will never be enough to stop all the problems.

Police cannot be everywhere at all times and cracking down on trouble once it starts does not address the root cause of the problems.

Bathurst is not alone in being home to social problems such as this, but there tends to be some constant themes wherever they crop up.

Clusters of poverty, inter-generational unemployment, lack of education opportunities and, often, drug and alcohol abuse all play a role in social dysfunction, and those social ills appear almost insurmountable.

Governments appear reluctant to throw serious money at the problem because there is no guarantee of a good outcome – and no good outcome means no happy photo opportunity at the end of it all.

But social workers will quote statistics showing that every dollar spent trying to tackle social dysfunction saves several dollars down the track in repairing the damage caused by the dysfunction.

Most of us would like to pretend these problems don’t exist in our community, but the people stuck living with these problems don’t have that luxury.