THE city's new top cop has arrived, and he's no stranger to Bathurst.
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Superintendent Peter O'Brien was a boarder at Stannies back in the day and, after finishing school, returned to the city a number of times as part of operational requirements.
He was here for the bike riots in 1981, 1983 and 1985 and was back again at Mount Panorama as part of the Tactical Response Group in 2011 when police, once and for all, put an end to the chaos associated with the Mount and, in doing so, turned the race into a family-friendly event.
Supt O'Brien, who joined NSW Police in 1979, has been based in metropolitan and regional areas, but comes to Bathurst with more than 20 years as a superintendent under his belt.
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He's already met with rank and file police officers at stations throughout the district and has big plans for the next year.
While he only took over the reins a matter of weeks ago, he is already looking at ways to reduce crime in the city.
He described crime in the city as "constant" for a place of Bathurst's size and said he will be looking at new strategies as well as tweaking old ones with the aim of having an impact on crime levels in the district.
Areas where he would like to see improvement include domestic violence and juvenile offenders, as well as property offences and theft.
Since he took on the position, he's welcomed the appointment of a second Rural Crime Investigator (RCI) to the district, who will be working alongside the current RCI, Bob Newman.
Anecdotally, Supt O'Brien said there appears to be more opportunity for rural crime in the current drought conditions and the additional resource will enable his officers to work closely with producers near stations in the district including Oberon, Portland and Wallerawang.
Since arriving last month he's also managing a $7 million upgrade at Bathurst Police Station, announced 12 months ago, and is in the process of applying for funding for an upgrade to Cowra Police Station.
"My priority is to make the building safe and secure; lighting, CCTV and other security aspects not only for my officers but also members of the public," he said.
He is also meeting his troops at Oberon this week and looking at the station and what's needed there.
But so far, looking at the command, he said he's impressed with work being done.
Last week he met with youth at Kelso participating in a holiday mentoring program.
He said it was impressive and he wants to value add to the programs underway.