About nswpolice

The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously New South Wales Police Service & New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It is an agency of the Government of New South Wales within the New South Wales Ministry for Police. Divided into eighty Local Area Commands (LAC),[1] the NSW Police Force consists of over five hundred local police stations and covers an area of 801,600 square kilometres whilst serving the state's population of seven million people.[2]

Under the Police Regulation Act (1862), the organisation of the New South Wales Police Force was formally established in 1862 with the unification of all existing independent police units within New South Wales. The authority and responsibility of the entire police force was given to the Inspector General of Police.[3] Presently, the Commissioner of Police controls the police force.

The current Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force is Andrew Scipione, APM, who replaced Ken Moroney AO APM, on August 31, 2007, with Deputy Commissioner Dave Owens APM and Deputy Commissioner Nic Kaldas APM and the Cabinet Minister of the State Government responsible for the New South Wales Police Force portfolio is The Honourable Tony Kelly, MLC. As of 2007, the New South Wales Police Force consists of approximately 14,454 officers