The National Party's by-election candidate Steph Cooke has said cuts to local police numbers “will not happen” as a result of a “re-engineering study”.

"This is a joint re-engineering study into a redrawing of boundaries for police local area commands that is being conducted by the police hierarchy and the police union,“ she said.

But Mr Sheahan said the Nationals should be honest with the electorate and stop using fancy words for the study.

"Make no mistake; this is a cost-cutting measure that the Police are undertaking," he said.

"I am pretty sure they are not going to cut Police staff, as in actual officers, but there will be ancillary staff jobs that will go by the wayside. When you take ancillary staff away, you take a family out of our region which can only hurt that community.

"Apart from that, Wagga is a big centre, and it has a big crime issue, and that is going to draw a lot of Police away from Young, Cootamundra, Tumut and Temora.  

“So, while we might not lose numbers, we will have a lower police presence in the smaller towns as a result of this study, no matter what the National Party and their candidate Steph Cooke say."

The Witness has spoken to a handful of Young police officers who like Mr Sheahan, and Shooters Candidate Matthew Stadtmiller are not filled with the same confidence Ms Cooke is regarding their jobs.

However, Ms Cooke said the police association would only agree to what is in the best interests of the men and women that they represent and has given an ironclad guarantee that police numbers won't be cut.

“I will guarantee that there will be more front-line police on the ground across our electorate, in our town and on our streets," she said.