COVID cops braving bitter cold at border checkpoints

With 27 checkpoints stretching from Eden on the Far south coast to Dareton in the west, the NSW-VIC border operation has created a new kind of policing. More than 450 officers rotate through the border operation every week with many jumping at the chance for a bit of country policing.

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Standing a metre deep in the snow or huddled around a crudely made fire with donated wood on the side of the road.

This is a day in the life of border cops — the hundreds of police officers who man 27 checkpoints on the Victoria-NSW state line 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Lake Illawarra Police officers work at the NSW-Vic border crossing during COVID-19.

Each week about 450 police officers are deployed on rotation to enforce the border restrictions as the state tries to prevent the Victorian outbreak spilling into NSW.

The officers are pulled from their normal duties, including police prosecutions, Detective work, traffic and highway patrol and weapons training, for the seven day deployment.

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They are stationed at 27 checkpoints, including a major crossing at Albury-Wodonga, on the Murray River at tiny Tooleybuc and in a blizzard on the Barry Way in the Alps.

A Lake Illawarra police officer works at the Barry Way border crossing checkpoint.

There are remote ferry crossings in western NSW that police monitor during daylight hours.

The police — many of whom were provided with snow gear to withstand the freezing temperatures at the border crossings in the Snowy Mountains region — share 10-hour shifts around the clock.

Border officers said locals had delivered everything from fire pits, firewood and hand warmers to scones, lasagne and coffee.

A couple of Australian Defence Force (ADF) members — both engineers — stationed at Corowa checkpoint even built the cops stairs out of old railway sleepers on the side of a hill when heavy rain turned the grass to mud.

A fire helps.

Senior Constable Rayner gets some help from Constable Olaf.

While drones have been manning the Murray River from the sky, police haven’t seen anyone brave enough to make a dash across.

Assistant Commissioner Scott Whyte said the logistics feat was pulled together in 36 hours after the premier announced the border would close in July.

“On the initial deployment, some of these officers only got four hours notice to pack their bags, say goodbye to their families and head down to the border, sometimes to stand in the freezing snow at checkpoints in the middle of the night,” he said.

Lake Illawarra Police officers work a night shift at the Barry Way border crossing checkpoint.

Despite police stopping every one of the 6800 vehicles that have crossed the border since July 8, Mr Whyte said he could count on “one hand or less” negative interactions between police and the public.

More than 820 warnings have been issued to people with no valid permit, three public health order ­infringements and 86 fines for offences detected at the crossings. Just over 20 court attendance notices have been issued for other offences.

Originally published as COVID cops braving bitter cold at border checkpoints