A rise in crime levels across the Lachlan Shire has prompted a community consultation with the local police as locals grow restless.

Stolen cars, targeting elderly people and local business break-ins have all made headlines across Condobolin and Lake Cargelligo, where the community is experiencing an unexplained rise in crime levels.

On Wednesday 23 March the Lachlan Chamber of Commerce hosted a meeting to facilitate the conversation that included Police, local council and businesspeople.

President Vicki Hanlon said that it was important to communicate that the police are doing all that they can. 

“We wanted to start a conversation because the community is asking for something to be done, but I don’t know that they realise it’s not such a simple situation,” Ms Hanlon said.

“There’s seven full time police allocated to Condobolin and that is usually enough to cover the low crime levels in Condobolin, however, at the moment with a temporary spike in crime, Police have allocated additional resources to our town” she said.

While businesses and individuals are targeted, the community treads the fine balance of not scaring away visitors.

“We understand that this is a temporary problem and don’t want people to gain a false impression of our community," Ms Hanlon said.

In the Wednesday night discussion, locals threw about extra measures that might strike a change, including forming a neighbourhood watch or adding extra security measures. 

“(The police) told us that we need people to report things big or small, you need to let the police know,” she said. 

In some cases, the perpetrators aren’t due to appear in court until May, leaving space for them to do anything in the meantime, despite conditional bail.

"The Condobolin Youth Liaison Officer said that they spend hours talking to and reaching agreements with troubled youth to support them, however we have no ability to force them to comply with the agreement once they leave the meeting," Ms Hanlon said. 

Just last week, three teens were charged in Lake Cargelligo after forcing entry into and stealing a vehicle. 

In that vehicle, they rammed a Condobolin business’s locked gate where they stole a trailer. 

Later that night, they rammed the front gate and door of a second building before leaving the scene.

Two weeks prior, a man was airlifted to Liverpool Hospital after being assaulted with a meat cleaver and mallet by a home intruder. 

The same man allegedly entered a service station the same day armed with the meat cleaver, threatening the shop attendant demanding cash before fleeing the location. A man was arrested the next day.

Despite incidents like these occurring in the region in the past month, crime in the Lachlan shire was lower than the previous year, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR). This has led locals to believe that the recent activity is merely temporary.

Police officials are hesitant to call the recent activity a spike, with the number of incidents being reported not dramatically higher than usual.

“I don’t quite know where we're going to go from here as a Chamber, but we can’t just leave it at that,” Ms Hanlon said. 

The Member for Barwon Roy Butler could not be reached for comment.

While Ms Hanlon believes he is aware, no line of communication has been established.