When there is trouble afoot, we rely on their presence to restore civility in precarious situations.

It’s unfortunate, but most of us will need them at some time in our lives. If not in an immediately dangerous situation, such as a fight at the local pub, then in a role designed to keep us safe, such as random breath/drug testing stations.

Cootamundra Local Area Command will welcome two more officers to its fold next week – but they will be going to Tumut and Young.

While it can’t be argued that both those towns surely need those probationary constables, we, too, are in need of a stronger police presence.

Cootamundra LAC crime manager Scott Wilkinson believes our numbers are OK – and crime rates in our region might be an indicator to support these figures.

But it is concerning to know that the Harden police station can go periods of time where there are no officers.

Despite this, Detective Inspector Wilkinson was quick to assure residents that crime in our area is declining.

A Carrington Hotel worker said it would be nice to know a police officer was just around the corner to quickly respond to a crisis rather than waiting precious minutes for someone to come from Young or Cootamundra – minutes in favour of criminals making an escape.

There’s no doubt police have a tough task.

Like many jobs in the community, we tend to only notice the shortfalls of a particular role rather than celebrate the accomplishments.

If a mistake is made, people are very quick to condemn, but if a job is done right, then it is just seen as meeting community expectation.

Remember, we as community members have a responsibility to report suspicious activity and communicate with out local police officer to help them do the best job possible.

It’s not an “us versus them” situation – this is even more important in smaller communities such as ours.

We’d quickly turn back to the wild west of the past and notorious outlaws like Ben Hall would run rampant again if the police force had no presence here at all.

Great for a blockbuster movie these days, not so much in real life.