DRUG use in the Highlands and plans for a new police station were a high priority for leading police representatives during a visit to Bowral Police Station.
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Minister for Police and Deputy Premier Troy Grant visited the station with Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione on Wednesday.
Mr Grant said he was impressed by the men and women at Bowral Police Station who were "extraordinarily proud to serve this community".
He said their work and dedication was reflected in the region's statistics.
"The crime statistics in this area are incredibly positive, and we have local police who care about the community," he said.
Hume LAC Commander Zoran Dzevlan said the reason for the high numbers, especially with regard to drug detection in the command, was due to a high-visibility police presence.
"My police are out there," he said. "We have had 991 detections since May last year for people with drugs in their system in the command, across the entire command."
Mr Grant said he and Commissioner Scipione had spoken about how best to respond to the obvious and growing concern about the ice epidemic.
"There has been a 45 per cent increase in the detections of ice activity in regional areas alone, it was something like 40 per cent in the metropolitan area."
Mr Grant said this demonstrated two things.
"The prevalence is out there, but it also says that the cops are doing a great job in the detections and in trying to curb this problem," he said.
One factor that affected the ability of police to best serve the community was location, according to the Minister for Police.
Mr Grant said a main priority for the police was to be "rapidly available" to address the community's concerns and calls for assistance.
He said this would be a main focus in the planning considerations for a new police station for the area.
"It's about making sure the police can access their community from the best location, from the best facilities, to serve the community," he said.
The $14.85 million dollar project proposed for the Southern Highlands is still in the planning stage.
"The local council understand we're nigh on, on the approvals of what's being proposed," Mr Grant said.
He said Commander Dzevlan would continue to communicate with the community regarding the time frame, style, look and location of what would be "a significant investment in this area for police infrastructure."