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Port Macquarie’s Anzac Day services featured beefed up security measures including two transport vehicles blocking the William and Horton street intersections.
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The measures were put in place to provide ‘a sense of security’, according to Port Macquarie RSL sub-branch president Greg Laird.
Mr Laird mentioned the added security during the dawn service.
“An approach was made to Jim Pearson Transport to put some trucks at the end of the street to act as barricades,” Mr Laird said.
“This was the first time that anybody has thought that something could happen. So the measure was put in place.
“While it was probably reasonably alarmist, I think it provided a sense of security and I think it made people feel a little bit more safer.”
Mr Laird said it was a ‘great gesture’ from the local transport company.
A spokesperson for Jim Pearson Transport said they were approached by Sergeant Paul Dilley about the vehicles being used.
“We were prepared to lend some vehicles and happy to help and contribute,” the spokesperson said.
“Our blokes were prepared to participate on a public holiday in bringing the trucks down on the day.”
Sgt Dilley said the measure was not a reaction to any form of threat.
“We were doing it to allay some peoples’ concerns,” he said.
The increased security measure was followed on Wednesday with the formation of a new investigations unit designed to deal with obsessed individuals who threaten to carry out acts of violence.
The fixated persons investigation unit will focus on so called ‘lone actors’ or ‘lone wolves’ who pose a threat within the community but do not meet the threshold of the counter terrorism and special tactics command.
Staffed by 17 detectives and mental health experts, the fixated persons investigation unit will form part of the police service’s re-engineering process aimed at deploying resources to where they are most needed to keep our community safe and reduce crime.
The unit will also be responsible for proactively identifying people who may be vulnerable to rapid radicalisation or lone actor-style attacks and disrupting their ability to engage in violence.
“This unit is a unique step forward in modern policing,” police commissioner, Mick Fuller, said.
The Commissioner also intends the new unit to be a resource for parents worried about their children being dangerously influenced.
“The views of a young person, under the wrong influence, could change in a matter of days or weeks,” he said, “We want parents to be able to contact the Fixated Persons Investigations Unit and get some help.”
NSW Police minister Troy Grant said fixated persons investigators will work closely with intelligence officers, the protection operations unit, and the terrorism investigations squad to bring NSW into line with similar structures seen interstate and abroad.
“We know the types of crime our police officers face are complex and ever-changing, therefore it is important our force evolves to ensure it is best placed to respond, both proactively and reactively,” he said.