The New South Wales premier has urged Sydneysiders to come out for New Year’s Eve, saying the heightened police presence was not due to any specific threat but a response to keep people safe.
More than 2,500 police will be deployed throughout the Sydney metropolitan area for New Year’s Eve celebrations and some will be carrying long-arm weapons.
“We need to show defiance in the face of this evil and the best way of doing that is to spend some time with your friends and your family on New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour,” Minns said.
“Families will see a different type of policing operation this New Year’s Eve. It’s not normally the case that NSW police officers have long-arm guns.
“That is a clear and deliberate message from the police that safety is the No 1 priority and they will be acutely aware and alert for any threats affecting the people of this state.”
The police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, confirmed that he had sought authorisation for long-arm weapons to be carried by police during New Year’s Eve.
General duties officers will be assisted by specialist officers attached to traffic and highway patrol command, police transport command, the public order and riot squad, operations support group, licensing police, mounted and dog command, marine area command and PolAir.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
Minns said the high-visibility policing was designed to make people feel safe in their city.
“It’s not just about confronting terrorism or crime, it’s about making the public feel safe when they’re out with their family in the community and, for identifiable members of our community, for example, the Jewish community, or members of the Islamic community, then we need to make sure that they feel safe in Australia,” Minns said.
The police minister, Yasmin Catley, said police had volunteered for extra shifts after Operation Shelter – a high-profile policing presence in Sydney’s eastern suburbs involving 400 police – and police were putting in extra hours for New Year’s Eve.
Lanyon said morale remained good but he acknowledged that there was currently a 2,000 shortfall in police numbers that was adding to the challenge.
“At the moment, we’re not having trouble [with] police wanting to fill these shifts [but] it is a drain,” he said. “We do have the same police performing the shifts but we’re committed to keeping the community safe, whilst recruitment and retention is one of my key focuses and we need to keep that going forward.”
Minns confirmed that NSW police would be holding discussions with commonwealth officials about possible deployments of defence personnel and the Australian federal police in Sydney.
Minns said he could not be more precise about the role the military might play, except that the commonwealth had been receptive to offering help.
A deployment of military personnel on the streets of Sydney would raise complex issues of whose rules applied, chains of command, appropriate duties and whether the defence forces can spare personnel.
Similar issues arose during the 2019 NSW bushfires, when the army and navy assisted with evacuations and early reconstruction efforts.
Minns also raised reports of an attack in Sydney on a young woman because she was wearing a headscarf.
He said racial vilification and hate speech laws applied to everyone.
“From a moral perspective, it is disgusting to think that anyone could blame a young person, a young member of our community, a young Islamic girl, for the actions of two people in Bondi Junction a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “That is appalling.”
With additional reporting by Dan Jervis-Bardy
