BY JEM ANSHAW
Two new police officers have joined the ranks in Muswellbrook, and it is hoped there will be more to come as the NSW Police Force puts a focus on recruiting locals to their home-town stations.
Probationary constables Blake Chandler and Lochlan Tulloch both have family in the region and put the Hunter Valley Local Area Command as their first choice when leaving the academy.
“Muswellbrook was my first pick, it was top of my list, I really want to serve this community,” probationary constable Chandler said, adding that he spent some of his childhood in Muswellbrook.
“I understand sometimes we’re there on people’s worst days, but to make that day a little bit more bearable just with our presence and the way we communicate with people, that’s why I wanted to come back to Muswellbrook.”
Probationary constable Tulloch has changed careers to the police force after spending 13 years in the Defence Force, some of his time was spent stationed in Singleton and he spent some of his childhood in Cessnock.
“It got to a point where I’d achieved everything I wanted to achieve in army and deployments are starting to slow down so I wanted something that was allowing me to still work for a similar minded workforce, similar sort of goals in a lot of ways, same sort of structure, but something I was able to apply myself in more real situations on a daily basis,” he said of joining the force.
The emphasis on local recruitment coincides with the announcement that recruits will now be paid while they undertake their training.
“With the future classes they will be focusing even more on those selections by the recruits as to where they want to go, because Hunter Valley is one of the focus commands in that program to give people the choice to come back here if they’ve grown up here or they’ve got connections within the Hunter Valley,” chief inspector Guy Guiana said.
“We’re looking forward to getting more people that have got connections with their area and want to be here.”
When discussing the opportunities available for officers stationed at the Hunter Valley Local Area Command, chief inspector Guiana shared there is still plenty of room for career growth in regional stations.
“People can apply to go into detectives and appropriate crime teams. A lot of GDs (general duties) police are part time tactical operators, operational support group, all those little side stream jobs are open to our general duties police,” he said.
Anyone considering a career in policing should visit police.nsw.gov.au for more information.
