SSAA NSW

Customer service is a critical aspect of policing and certainly a key function at the NSW Police Force Firearms Registry. Finding new ways to engage with our customers and providing customers with relevant, timely and accurate information is high priority. As the Firearms Registry is based in a small regional town at the top end of NSW, we have few opportunities to meet our customers face to face. We aim to change that. Over the past few years, the Firearms Registry has been expanding its stakeholder and customer engagement programs, opening new channels to communicate and do business with our customer base. We have been sending teams to significant industry events, such as the SSAA SHOT Expo for many years now. The feedback we receive from these events from our customers is invaluable and we appreciate your honesty and forthrightness. At June's SHOT Expo event, I sent a team of six people. Over the course of the three days, they processed over 240 online licence applications, nearly 130 Permits to Acquire, ran 150 people through the Firearms Licence Qualification Course and provided advice and information to many, many more customers. Not only is attending events, such as the SHOT Expo, good for our customers, it is also great for our staff. The staff enjoy meeting some of the regular people they have been talking on the phone to for years, such as club officials and dealers. This year, we have attended Primex in Casino and we will be soon attending AgQuip in Gunnedah. The Firearms Registry also holds regular meetings with various industry and sporting stakeholders. We have three defined consultative groups – the Legislative Group, Clubs and Ranges and the Forum Group. These groups meet on a quarterly or as needs basis, and provide a sounding board between the Firearms Registry and the clubs, ranges, and peak associations. Membership is diverse and the debates at the meetings are often energetic. We also meet on a regular basis with the Firearms Dealers Association and our range inspections provide opportunities for direct conversations with club and range officials. The aim of these groups and all our face to face interactions is to create a direct two-way communication channel between the industry and the Firearms Registry so that we may improve understanding of our respective constraints, smooth out issues and solve problems before they escalate. For example, the stakeholder groups worked tirelessly on making policy and legislative recommendations in relation to supervision on ranges. As a result, the 2017 Review of the Firearms Regulation saw resolution to this long-term issue for the industry. Now we have a simple and clear definition of supervision for unlicensed and licensed persons, with ranges being able to make the judgement call as to the appropriate level of supervision for licensed holders on the range. Our stakeholder engagement and customer interaction give us currency of understanding and an on-the-ground appreciation of matters that affect the industry, the sport and individual licence holders. But, the important benefit that I have seen come from our expanding stakeholder and customer engagement program is a slow and steady growth of trust between the Firearms Registry and the shooting community. We rely on your vigilance to continue to protect the sport, industry and public from inappropriateness, whether that inappropriateness is through impairment, behaviour or more concerning or nefarious actions, such as those with criminal or terrorist related intent. I witnessed this care the other day when on social media I saw a call out to all NSW gun clubs about an unlicensed individual who had been identified as a suicide risk and had been attempting to access a firearm through the unlicensed shooting regime. The banding together of the sport to ensure that this person did not risk themselves or others was admirable. Dealers, club and range officials, medical professionals, other licence holders, friends and family can – and do – help us by providing us with information if they hold concerns about a fellow licence holder or new entrant to the sport. Should you have any concerns about an individual – whether that be because of a concern of mental or physical impairment or a change of circumstances that may pose a risk to the safety of the public or themselves - please contact the Firearms Registry on 1300 362 562 or email clubs@police.nsw.gov.au, unless it is deemed a matter of urgency in which case please contact your local police immediately. Georgina Gold General Manager, Operations NSW Police Force Firearms Registry Policing and customer service NSW Police Firearms Registry Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. 29

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