A petition of 2760 signatures is on its way to NSW Parliament with a message for the police minister: Forbes wants a 24-hour police station.

Forbes Neighbourhood Watch presented the petition to Member for Orange Philip Donato on Thursday, as the organisation's final official duty.

They've now folded for lack of volunteers.

The petition will be presented to NSW Parliament, Mr Donato said, paying tribute to Neighbourhood Watch for putting in the hard yards to gather such an impressive number of signatures from our community.

Forbes Neighbourhood Watch, now disbanding due to a lack of volunteers, handed over the petition to Member for Orange Philip Donato on Thursday - their final act after years of tireless advocacy.

“Nobody said no, as soon as they saw it,” said Neighbourhood Watch president Lyn Ward.

The group gathered signatures at the Forbes Show and through local businesses - some even calling to request more copies when theirs filled up.

After spending the last 12 to 18 months petitioning for volunteers, through this newspaper, television and social media, they could not attract members.

It's a sad reflection that some community members told Ms Ward they wouldn't join Neighbourhood Watch because they were fearful about arriving home from the meetings after dark.

"You come out in daylight, but by the time they get home it's dark and they're fearful about getting inside their house even," she said.

Mr Donato was direct in his support.

“You shouldn’t be fearful to leave your house at night," he said.

"That’s not right. It’s not acceptable and it shouldn’t be happening.”

Mr Donato said the group should receive a formal, written response from the police minister.

"It's something that really, to be quite frank, you should have, it should be an entitlement for your community to have a 24-hour presence in your local community of police officers," Mr Donato said.

"It's not too much to ask I wouldn't think (for) a town the size of Forbes to have that.

"I know this has been an issue for this community for a long time."

Just over a month ago, The Advocate asked Minister for Police and Counter-Terrorism Yasmin Catley whether Forbes would see a 24/7 police station.

The Minister gave assurances that police were in the field around-the-clock.

"Every community in NSW, including Forbes, benefits from a round-the-clock police presence, ensuring prompt responses at all times," Ms Catley said.

"I would also like to remind the community that every police vehicle acts as a mobile station, giving officers the ability to quickly respond to calls for help while on the move.

"If you need immediate assistance, please call triple zero, and the police will respond."

But the Minister did acknowledge a state-wide shortage of some 2000 police.

Mr Donato added indications going forward were more positive.

"The government has offered some new incentives to try and encourage more people to join the NSW Police force and I think they're being very well received," he said.

"They're getting good numbers of enquiries, they're getting big classes of recruits, which is encouraging but it's going to take some time to filter through.

"I appreciate you want something here immediately - that's not lost on me either."

Paying people during their time at the police academy and offering them the opportunity to return to their own community to serve as officers were two of the recruitment changes making a difference.

While our Neighbourhood Watch branch is now ended, their message echoes through 2760 signatures and they hope increased police presence will be their legacy.