All in a day's work

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

It’s 1pm on a Thursday afternoon in Shepparton and 10 offenders have already been arrested and processed through the police cells.

But the day is about to get even busier for officers from Shepparton Police Station, with a report of high schoolers brawling at a primary school, a suspicious package being located outside a shopping centre, a call to euthanise a kangaroo hit by a car, a man threatening staff at a supermarket, random traffic intercepts, breaking up family violence arguments in the main street and attending a high-speed crash between a car and a truck.

Yet this is not an unusual afternoon for Shepparton police, who work at one of the busiest stations in the state.

Senior Sergeant Brad Fisher is one of three senior sergeants overseeing the station’s uniform section and made the move to Shepparton – a regional city of more than 63,000 in northern Victoria – six years ago.

“Honestly, it’s the best move I’ve ever made,” Sen Sgt Fisher said.

“The lifestyle up here is magnificent and the work really appeals to me because you don’t have days where you wonder what you’re going to do, you’ve always got something on the go.”

First Const Gary Scutt, Const Robert Morland, Constable Bridie Bremner-Graham and Sen Const Matt Krul patrol Shepparton’s busy Maude Street Mall.

Data from the Crime Statistics Agency shows the Greater Shepparton area has been in Victoria’s top five local government areas for highest criminal incident rates over recent years.

Sen Sgt Fisher said each of his officers have an average of 20 briefs of evidence in the process of being prepared or before the courts at any one time, compared to officers at some quieter stations who might complete the same number of briefs over an entire year.

“When you look at the statistics, Shepparton is often above some of the stations you would expect to be flat-out, such as Frankston and Dandenong,” he said.

“Our officers certainly hold their own throughout the state.”

A prominent factor behind the city's crime is the region’s high youth unemployment rate of 17.5 per cent – the second highest in the state.

“A big thing we see is youth crime,” Sen Sgt Fisher said.

“Just recently, some of the youth were causing us grief with thefts of cars, evading police, burglaries and thefts from cars.”

Const Bremner-Graham chats with a Shepparton local.

Shepparton’s Proactive Policing Unit, with its dedicated Youth Resource Officer, works closely with youth services in the area, such as Berry Street, Blue EDGE and Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative in an effort to change this narrative.

The station is also planning to combat the “many and varied” youth issues by creating a sergeant’s role dedicated to overseeing all aspects of youth crime and engagement.

Shepparton’s Multicultural Liaison Officer Senior Constable Matt Walker said engaging with young people was crucial in reaching the area’s many multicultural communities.

First constables Nathan Berryman and Ian Watson attend a crash involving a car and a truck on the outskirts of Shepparton.

“Youth are the biggest influencers in our community, especially the multicultural communities, because they’re generally bilingual, whereas a lot of the adults are not,” Sen Const Walker said.

“If they see something at home that isn’t right, they will let their families know that it shouldn’t be happening.”

Connecting with the various cultures is an important part of the job of policing in Shepparton, which was one of the first stations in the state to have a Multicultural Liaison Officer.

Every new officer at the station spends an orientation day visiting a local mosque and Rumbalara, and the station also runs a two-day cultural camp, where officers spend a night on the Murray River with Aboriginal elders.

First Const Scutt carries out a random intercept breath test.

Efforts like the mosque visits have helped officers earn the trust of people in the area’s Middle Eastern communities, who are beginning to feel comfortable to report instances of family violence to police.

“Traditionally, family violence is a bit of a taboo topic within multicultural communities and kept in-house,” Sen Const Walker said.

Sen Const Walker and his colleagues last year stepped in to support a local high school girl who sought help after her family had arranged a forced marriage for her, receiving a dowry of more than $10,000 in exchange.

“She was told that after year 12 she would be going overseas to be with her new husband,” Sen Const Walker said.

Sgt Trent Buscall (second from right) and his team of Police Custody Officers are kept on their toes in the Shepparton Police Station cells.

Officers worked with the parents to explain that forced marriage is illegal in Victoria, and, while they initially resisted, the family agreed to call off the marriage and returned the dowry money.

“The daughter is much happier and her dad is now very understanding and great to deal with, because I think he realised he didn’t want to lose his daughter due to a cultural tradition,” Sen Const Walker said.

“If we hadn’t have got involved, she would have been shipped off overseas into a marriage she wanted no part of.”

Frist Const Watson works with paramedics at the scene of a car crash.

Sen Sgt Fisher said going above and beyond was part of the culture at Shepparton.

“I really take my hat off to the officers we have here,” he said.

“They won’t accept that near enough is good enough.

“From my oldest and most experienced leading senior constable, right through to the person who’s only been here one week, they are all so keen to work hard and get great results.”