The new station will host officers carrying out general and specialist duties. Photo: NSW Police.
Three years after construction began, the South Coast’s newest police station has officially opened.
On Wednesday (3 December), Member for Bega Doctor Michael Holland said the $23m project expanded police capabilities – and gave them more room.
“What people don’t realise is part of the need, if you have a police station, for the number of vehicles and equipment that they have here.
“It’s really state-of-the-art. … It’s going to incorporate things that’s never been in the area before.”
The two-storey station includes a public front counter, custody area with two cells and three docks, a detectives’ area, task force room, command offices, exhibit storage, staff amenities, and a meal room.
NSW Police Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon APM said the new station represented a “really exciting” investment in regional policing.
“As a police force, we are committed to the South Coast Police District.
“We want to make sure that the residents of the communities on the South Coast know that the police are here.”
It can accommodate up to 38 staff, who will work across general duties and Traffic and Highway Patrol.
There will also be detectives and, for the first time, Forensic Evidence and Technical Services officers will be based at the new station.
“For the people of the Southern Region, for the people around Bega, it enables us to process crime scenes quicker,” Mr Lanyon said of the forensic officers.
“It enables us to provide a quicker service to the community and solve crime.”
NSW Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley acknowledged that police recruitment and retention were an ongoing concern, including for the South Coast region.
She pointed to the ‘You should be a cop in your hometown’ campaign and their professional mobility program (where officers can move from other jurisdictions to NSW).
“As is well known, every sector is looking for people, so we are competing against every sector. We have to incentivise policing and give people a reason to want to become a police officer in NSW … We are being really innovative.
“We are trying to think of everything.”
Ms Catley also acknowledged there had been “ups and downs” during the construction process.
Building began in 2022, before Project Coordination entered voluntary administration in early 2024, when the estimated cost was $16 million.
New contractor, Sydney-based Pattersons Building Group, started on the project in March after the works were put out for tender again.
Work recommenced earlier this year, and were completed in September.
“I was just talking to one of the superintendents … he was saying to me that from a crime perspective, this facility is the best crime facility – one of the best crime facilities in the state – and the next best would be at Queanbeyan,” she said.
In February a new police station opened in Jindabyne, while construction on a police station on McDermott Drive in Goulburn also started earlier this year.
