The Tweed-Byron and Richmond police districts are set to get more ‘high visibility’ officers on the beat out of an additional 60 police allocated across the Northern Region.

Greens MP for Ballina Tamara Smith met with Alstonville community representatives over the weekend to receive their petition for police officers to be stationed permanently at Alstonville.

The Richmond and Tweed-Byron local area commands will each get nine new police officers the state government announced yesterday. Dwindling police resources were a contentious issue at the recent NSW election.

Labor’s candidate for the state seat of Tweed, Ron Goodman, has once again raised the issue of dwindling police numbers on the north coast but the sitting member, Nationals Geoff Provest, says all it proves is that he doesn't know how to read the figures.

Richmond Valley Council says its community campaign to upgrade the Casino Police Station was the impetus for NSW police minister Stuart Ayres to fast track the recruitment of additional police officers to allow the station to operate 24-hours a day.