Call for more cops on northern beaches after teens charged with police assault at Warriewood Maccas
An alleged assault by four teens on a top cop outside Maccas at Warriewood has prompted a call for more police officers to be posted to the northern beaches, and the reopening of Avalon cop shop.
Manly
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More police officers are needed at Mona Vale police station to tackle a “huge spike in crime,” according to a member of Northern Beaches Council.
Independent councillor Vincent de Luca also called on the NSW Government to re-open the police station at Avalon in an effort to halt anti-social behaviour by youths.
Cr De Luca’s pleas come just two days after a senior police officer was allegedly assaulted and injured by four male teens — aged 16 to 17 — outside McDonald’s at Warriewood.
Late on Friday night the chief inspector was allegedly assaulted and had his mobile phone allegedly stolen after he responded to reports a large group of teenagers were causing a disturbance inside the fast food outlet.
One of the boys is accused of filming the attack and the video appears to show the teens taunting the officer with his police ID badge.
In the video somebody can be heard shouting: “Get the f*** off him! Oi! Get off him cuz. He hasn’t done anything wrong.!” and “What’s your badge number? What’s your badge number?”
The chief inspector was knocked to the ground in the car park. He sustained minor injuries.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested after a foot chase on Walsh St, North Narrabeen, just after 1am on Saturday.
Then at about 3am, police went to a home in North Narrabeen and arrested a second 17-year-old boy and a boy, 16.
Police went to a home at Narrabeen and arrested a fourth teen — a 16-year-old boy — about 8pm on Saturday.
The four teens appeared in Parramatta Children’s Court on Sunday and were granted conditional bail.
Cr De Luca, a councillor for the Narrabeen Ward, said residents had been complaining about youths leaving drug-taking paraphernalia in public reserves and in the grounds of childcare centres.
He said fences and letterboxes were also being destroyed around Elanora Heights during weekend vandal attacks.
“Older people are stealing from cars and going around targeting other kids while Mona Vale police station is barely manned.”
The latest NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures, for the 24 months to March 2020, show stealing from motor vehicles on the northern beaches has jumped by 25 per cent.
In the 12 months to March 2020 there were 951 reports of cars being broken into. There were also 1195 reports of malicious damages to property on the northern beaches.
Cr Del Luca commended the police for their efforts to bring crime rates down and said he was appalled by the alleged attack on the chief inspector.
“But I think that the State Government needs to inject significant police resourcing into the northern beaches.
“Unfortunately we have the tyranny of distance here. The northern beaches is so large that we need to be better resourced at Mona Vale.
“And the government should look at reopening a police station at Avalon.”
There was speculation late last year that Mona Vale police station could be sold off as part of an ongoing restructure of police resources across NSW and that it would be replaced by a shopfront in the Mona Vale town centre.
In December the council voted to write to the police proposing it relocate the police station to a more centralised site in Mona Vale.
The NSW Police Association — the police officer’s trade union — said it had no concerns about police numbers across the whole northern beaches, describing the number as “relatively healthy”.
On the weekend the NSW Government said it would launch a parliamentary inquiry into assaults against police.
A spokesman for McDonald’s said it had security measures, such as CCTV, and was assisting the police with their investigation into the incident.
“We do not tolerate any form of violence or abuse in our restaurants, and any anti-social behaviour will be reported to the relevant authorities.”