The Boorowa born cop decided this was the area he and his family wanted to settle in after travelling around southern NSW as a police officer for the past two decades.

“It’s a really good area, we have similar issues here as the other communities I’ve worked in,” Inspector McLean said.

He said those issues included “things like property theft… no one wants to have their house damaged”.

The inspector joins the Goulburn Local Area Command after a three-and-a-half year posting in Cowra, before that he spent time in many towns from Balranald in the south to Orange in the west.

Another key part of the inspector’s job will be working with the Yass Highway Patrol, with three of the state’s major roads intersecting here.

“I have heard the highway patrol do a very good job,” he said. “They’re proactive, [often using] strategies like random breath testing.”

Inspector McLean said being a cop in a smaller town was rewarding and it was easy to become part of the local community.

Country policing also runs in the inspector’s veins; his father was a policeman for 32 years and his brother is also in the force.

He said it was important for the community to go to the local police when they have an issue.

“If we don’t know it’s happening we can’t do anything about it… or direct our police to the right areas,” Inspector McLean said.

If people wanted to get in contact with the inspector or one of the sergeants in Yass they just need to call the police stations in Yass or Goulburn.