With never-before-seen challenges arising in 2020 around the COVID-19 pandemic, police nationally and locally were pushed to their limits.

But Riverina Police District Commander Superintendent Bob Noble said there were many lessons learnt from those challenges which will foster new growth in the future.

"Our results for the last half of 2020 in relation to crime were very positive," he said.

"We normally have 13 benchmarks for major crime categories here in the Riverina, and 11 of those were very much met and exceeded so that's encouraging for us heading into this year."

Positive results were seen in relation to break and enters, stolen cars and property crime in general, according to Superintendent Noble.

He said the focus for 2021 would centre around numerous issues, from domestic violence and suicide prevention to training and community engagement.

"One of the real breakthroughs for us recently has been the efforts of our investigative team in educating younger junior police and new recruits, they have been very committed to that so we have seen some fantastic results," Superintendent Noble said.

"These younger police officers have a new level of professionalism and talent that I could only dream of when I was at their level, so this really heralds a new era of sophistication for our crew moving forward."

Domestic violence would also continue to be a priority of police, according to Superintendent Noble, who said recent improvements were not cause to slow down efforts.

"Every domestic violence incident is a potential homicide, so we need to stay on top of that," he said.

Also in the public safety domain was a focus on suicide prevention, which Superintendent Noble said would be bolstered through community engagement.

"While we have always had a significant role in responding to mental health-related incidents, by integrating that with other community agencies, we can really focus our commitment and take it to a more sophisticated level," he said.

Superintendent Noble said police would continue to advance and improve their skills in managing crime scenes, forensic analysis, canvassing witnesses and examining all sources of evidence, while also adapting to the ongoing health orders which continue to evolve.

But the public needed to play their part, too.

"People need to continue to remain really patient while the pandemic plays out, and not view any easing of restrictions as cause to break out or get silly and reckless," he said.

"We don't want to see people surviving a global pandemic only to end up in a wheelchair or something after having too much to drink and doing something stupid."

Riverina Highway Patrol Acting Inspector Ben Smith also had plans for the region's roads over the year ahead.

"We are hoping to see a lower road toll in the Riverina Police District for 2021 - we lost 13 persons from road fatalities in 2020, and ideally we would like zero," he said.

The team's main focus for the new year will on 'high risk' drivers, according to Acting Inspector Smith.

"These are persons that become known to us to continually commit traffic offences, and those that continually drive with drugs or alcohol in their systems," he said.

An additional focus would be on targeting the improper use of seatbelts after concerning observations in the Riverina.

"[There] was a rise late in the year regarding the failure to wear a seatbelt, which was a contributing or major factor in several of our fatal collisions late in the year," Acting Inspector Smith said.

"As a result, we will be focusing on those that drive or drive with passengers unrestrained or not restrained as prescribed."