Lismore MP Janelle Saffin has welcomed a new Probationary Constable, Nicholas Batgaley, who joined the ranks of Tenterfield Police this month.

This brings to five the number of police officers living and working in Tenterfield in the New England Local Area Command.

Ms Saffin used a Community Recognition Statement in Parliament to welcome PC Batgaley, who hails from the Tweed-Byron area and previously visited Tenterfield for holidays.

Ms Saffin said the recruit recently graduated from the Goulburn Police Academy, where he spent four months in training, and before that, four months via distance education.

“A record-breaking total of 314 police recruits in Class 366 were sworn into the NSW Police Force late last month,” Ms Saffin said.

“There has been a significant boost in police recruitment since the Minns Labor Government announced in October 2023 that we would pay recruits to study at the Academy.”

Probationary Constable Batgaley, 23, put Tenterfield on his list of preferences and told local media he was delighted to be posted there for 12 months of one-the-job training.

“He is living in police housing in town and is out and about on the Tenterfield beat. I wish PC Batgaley every success in his policing career.”