2019 NSW election candidates for Wagga debate the need for more police in the Riverina

President of Wagga's Neighbourhood Watch, Wayne Deaner described the announcement as a "letdown to the community".

"Some of these areas in Newcastle and Sydney, there's five [to] eight new officers going in, but they have a lower crime rate than in Wagga," Mr Deaner said.

Through meetings with Wagga's mayor and state Independent member Dr Joe McGirr, Mr Deaner concludes 40 officers are needed for a full complement.

"Wagga's crime is out of control and they're doing the best they can with what they have, but we need more police on the ground," said Mr Deaner.

Almost all of the candidates in the upcoming state election agreed on this figure. However, Nationals MLC Wes Fang said he had "never received that feedback".

In the absence of Nationals candidate Mackenna Powell's availability on the subject, Mr Fang offered an explanation on the low recruitment number.

"There is only one coming because in the last rotation the Riverina actually got five probationary constables. There is a limit of about six probationary officers because there need to be resources to supervise."

Currently sitting Independent Dr McGirr and Shooters Fishers Farmers candidate Sebastian McDonagh agree here lies the issue. 

"The reason for this, I think, is that police here are only able to recruit to three vacancies at the moment. The underlying issue is that there needs to be an overall increase in the numbers here," said Dr McGirr.

Mr McDonagh echoed: "What I'm hearing is that there may be insufficient trainers at the academy to roll out the numbers needed across the state," Mr McDonagh said.

Both Mr McDonagh and Australian Conservatives candidate Colin Taggart advocate for tougher penalties.

"This 'catch and release' strategy, where the courts are lenient on repeat offenders, it sucks up resources from the police," said Mr Taggart.

Without outlining the specifics of how many would likely end up in the Riverina, Mr Fang said the Nationals had committed to rolling out another 1500 officers in NSW by the middle of the year. 

A similar promise was made by Labor, with candidate Dan Hayes calling for better police health services.

"Psychological and physical support is essential for jobs like that," he said.

Similarly, Greens candidate Ray Goodlass wants to emphasise the root of criminal activities.

"The police deal with the symptoms and the individual crimes but they can't get to the root of what's causing it."