Three local Police Aboriginal Community Liason Officers (ACLOs), have been awarded a much-deserved District Commander's Commendation.

Teresa Stanford (Coonamble), Glen Knight (Gilgandra), and Willie McDonald (Dubbo) received their award on 24 November 2022 from Inspector Russell McArthur.

The award is given to those who go above and beyond in their community service; and in this case, the service that was provided to communities outside of Coonamble, Gilgandra, and Dubbo.

"I feel really appreciated - it was for all the work we did during covid for the community," said Teresa Stanford, the ACLO for Coonamble.

As we're all fully aware, the pandemic was just a little bit of a tumultuous time and many local services were involved in supporting residents to follow home isolation rules and access vaccinations.

"We made sure the community was okay, getting them groceries and other things if they were isolating, putting out that we would do drop-offs if need be," said Teresa.

"As a unit we worked really well together, that being health, police, the AMS (Aboriginal Medical Service), everyone worked hard to get everyone together and vaccinated."

"For a while there I'm pretty sure we (Coonamble) had one of the highest rates of vaccination."

For Teresa, her commitment wasn't just limited to Coonamble.

She was deployed to one of the worst-hit areas in the country as part of the state's COVID response.

"I also went out to Wilcannia when they were hit really hard at the start of COVID, we worked hard to get them through that tough period."

"They really struggled with access to food and overcrowding in homes, we went out there and did whatever we could to help them."

Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers like Teresa, Glen, and Willie work to create a dialogue between indigenous community members and the police department.

They are a line of support for police when dealing with indigenous people so it can happen in a culturally-appropriate way.

The overall goal is to create partnerships between the police and indigenous Australians, in doing so working to create a stronger community.

District Commander for Orana Mid Western Danny Sullivan says his district is "blessed to have four amazing ACLOs," and they deserve all the praise they're receiving.

"Even though they're humble and say they're just doing their job, in their work they transform the lives of thousands of people across NSW," Commander Sullivan said.

"They are always working behind the scenes and during the pandemic they were the local unsung heroes."

"They were putting their lives at risk to ensure the local community was safe and got the help they needed."

"I'm nothing but proud of them and thought their efforts deserved to be recognised," he said.