TWEED'S police presence has been reinforced this week with a new trial of water police.

MP Geoff Provest said the trial would see five specially trained officers brought into the Tweed.

The trial, which is also being run in Sydney, began yesterday and is set to run until February 28, 2014.

Mr Provest said he had been pushing to have water police for years, and would like to see this operation become a permanent addition to the Tweed.

"We're really moving forward with police and law and order in the Tweed," Mr Provest said.

"After the trial, we'll be able to lobby for more resources."

Nine in ten boating-related deaths in NSW in the last decade were believed to be the result of insufficient life-jackets.

Mr Provest said the focus would be on water safety, with "zero-tolerance" towards unsafe behavior.

He said the water police would encourage safe behavior on the water, while cracking down on illegal fishing activities.

Mr Provest said the trial would see NSW Police, the Roads and Maritime Service and the Department of Fisheries work together in what he described as the first step into cross-departmental operations.

Mr Provest said the trial wouldn't be possible without the three departments pooling their resources.

"Maritime have a couple of boats, Fisheries have a couple, and right now the police have one," Mr Provest said.

"In the past, they all did their own thing."

"We didn't really have a water police presence."

Mr Provest said the existing operations significantly drained land-based resources.

"I've been with Maritime on the water," Mr Provest said.

"If they suspected a boat operator was drinking, they'd have to order them to shore."

"Then the land-based police would come to conduct a breath test."

Mr Provest said he waited with the Maritime authority for 45 minutes before the land-based police could arrive.

He said the water police would free up Tweed's existing police resources for urgent land-based matters.