Cadet careers

Editorial: Jesse Wray-McCann

If you were to work for Victoria Police for more than 500 years, what might your career look like? The 13 men in this article are a great example, having earlier this year gathered together to celebrate 45 years since they first joined Victoria Police as cadets.

Their more than 500 years of collective experience is almost as diverse as the organisation itself.

1. Richard Lodder

Sergeant – Fingerprint Sciences Group

Main work areas/units:

Fingerprint Sciences Group

Highlights:

Running the Crime Scene Officers Course from 2009-2012, performing a review of the Victoria Police Emergency Response Guide, serving as Victoria Police Liaison at the State Emergency Control Centre, and a 2014 deployment to the Netherlands for disaster victim identification following the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine.

What do you like about the job?

I enjoy working in this area where I feel we can make a difference by solving crimes and identifying deceased persons.

2. Craig Rhodes

Detective Senior Sergeant – Fraud & Extortion Squad

Main work areas/units:

General duties and Crime Investigation Unit (CIU) duties, CompStat, Project AIM and various Crime Command squads.

Highlight:

Just catching crooks. It’s a great feeling to get that guilty plea after an investigation.

What do you like about the job?

The mateship. No matter where you go, you have always got a friend to help you out, and the friendship lasts a lifetime.

3. Mark Doney

Inspector – State Business Continuity Manager

Main work areas/units:

General duties in metropolitan and rural locations, Operational Safety and Tactics Training instructor, Sergeant Qualifying Program facilitator, Special Operations Group (SOG), and State Emergencies and Support Command.

Highlight:

Working in a high-performance team such as the SOG and working with our frontline people, who have the hardest and most important job to do.

What do you like about the job?

The variety of areas that you can work in, skills you can gain and people you can meet.

4. David Beare

Forensic Officer, former Senior Constable at Victoria Police and Sergeant at Queensland Police Service

Main Work areas/units:

Mostly in Fingerprint Branch Melbourne and Fingerprint Bureau in Queensland (eight years).

Highlight:

Having identified thousands of criminals and deceased persons over many decades using my fingerprint expertise. Main highlight was going to the Bali bombings in 2002 as part of an Australian Federal Police (AFP) Disaster Victim Identification Team and working with identification experts from around the western world. This was the most challenging, rewarding and humbling work I have done, bringing closure to the victims’ families worldwide.

What do you like about the job?

The knowledge of having a secure job throughout five decades. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was a classic example of the security that being an essential services worker provides, while many in the community were not so fortunate.

5. Stephen Dennis

Detective Inspector – Professional Standards Command Investigations Division

Main work areas/units:

General duties and CIU, Local Area Commander at Stonnington and Port Phillip, Santiago Task Force, child exploitation task forces and Missing Persons.

Highlights:

Various, high-profile crime squads in Crime Command. Established the Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team in Victoria. The first extradition of an offender who had fled Australia after committing serious historic offences in Victoria. The offender was extradited from Bosnia, which had no extradition treaty with Australia in 2019.

What do you like about the job?

Working with committed colleagues focused on achieving key goals to enhance community safety. Significant personal development and diverse career opportunities.

6. Paul Allinson

Inspector – Operational Communications

Main work areas/units:

General duties and CIU, State Crime Squads, Detective Training School, North West Metro Region, Capability Department and State Emergency and Security Command.

Highlights:

Opportunity to lead and develop capability in our people in frontline and formal training and development settings. Being part of an organisation whose people — like no other arm of government — rise to challenges, adapt, reshape, lead and deliver community safety 24/7, 365 days a year.

What do you like about the job?

Connection with community, making a difference, the diversity of its people and the diversity of career options.

7. Geoff Kedge

Superintendent – Professional Standards Command

Main work areas/units:

General duties and CIU, Professional Standards Command, and management roles at the Force Response Unit, North West Metro Division 4 and Eastern Division 5 (ED5).

Highlight:

Working as the Divisional Superintendent in ED5 for the Baw Baw, Latrobe and Bass Coast areas was one of my favourite and most memorable times in my career because I was working in a spectacularly beautiful part of Victoria, from Philip Island to Wilsons Prom and into the mountain area of Mt Baw Baw and Walhalla.

What do you like about the job?

The ability to move around and experience a variety of roles. The average time I have spent in any role is about four years before seeking a new challenge.

8. Rod Hardy

Sergeant – Crime Intelligence Group

Main work areas/units:

Broadmeadows, Coburg, Kyneton, Prosecutions, Crime Intelligence Group.

Highlight:

Worked at the City of Westminster, London as the Operations Manager of the City Guardian service. Head of Regional Intelligence Units United Kingdom South with the National Criminal Intelligence Service in the UK.

What do you like about the job?

I cannot express how much I love this job. It has been an absolutely fantastic 45 years full of diversity and change. I have never been bored and I’ve had a lot of fun, mixed with serious emotion and opportunities.

9. Paul Cliffe

Senior Sergeant – Gisborne Police Station

Main work areas/units:

Russell Street Crime Car Squad, Flemington, Broadmeadows and Gisborne.

Highlights:

2006 international deployment to the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands on secondment with the AFP. I also worked with the AFP at the Melbourne Airport between 2009-2011, which was a very interesting experience.

What do you like about the job?

The camaraderie and the unpredictability of every day’s work.

10. Alan Paxton

Detective Senior Sergeant – Southern Metro Division 4 Divisional Response Unit

Main work areas/units:

Various CIUs, Special Response Squad, Tactical Response Squad and Purana Taskforce.

Highlight:

Leading the investigation of the kidnapping of three-week-old Montana Barbaro at Deer Park in 2004. A husband and wife decided they wanted a baby, so they sprayed Montana’s mum in the face with capsicum spray and took the child from her car. Recovering Montana safe and well and arresting the offenders within 48 hours brought much relief to her family and the community and a great sense of satisfaction.

What do you like about the job?

I am always confident our people, being the team (and family) we are, will work together and always overcome whatever is thrown at us. That sense of unity and belonging is unique.

11. Peter Francis

Senior Sergeant – D24 Police Communications

Main work areas/units:

Mount Waverley, Berwick, Cobram and D24 Police Communications.

Highlights:

Graduating from the Victoria Police Academy in 1978, achieving promotion through the ranks, completing the search and rescue course and sub-officers course, obtaining an Advanced Diploma and receiving the Victoria Police Service Medal and National Police Service Medal.

What do you like about the job?

How Victoria Police has developed over the years from very basic facilities, equipment and resources in the late 1970s and 1980s to now providing some of the best and most current equipment, police stations, offices and vehicles. I also like the personalities I’ve worked with over the years and the experiences I’ve shared with them. I’m feeling so old now that I have trouble remembering many of those experiences.

12. Paul McAlpine

Senior Sergeant – Discipline Inquiry Office

Main work areas/units:

Sunshine, Maidstone, Prosecutions, Discipline Advisory Unit, Discipline Inquiry Office.

Highlights:

20 years of operational policing and 35 years of diverse opportunities. Working with people smarter than me. Creating systems 20 years ago that are still being used today to reduce drink driving defences used in court. Working in a field that makes a real difference to the reputation and integrity of the entire organisation.

What do you like about the job?

Employment security, diverse career options and the constant challenges that require problem solving and keep me on my toes.

13. Doug Symons

Leading Senior Constable – Whitehorse Crime Scene Services

Main work areas/units:

General duties, Crime Scene Services and the Victoria Police Band.

Highlights:

Playing with the Victoria Police Band at the MCG in front of more than 30,000 people for the Victoria Miltary Tattoos for 1983, 1984 and 1985. Just after graduating, I was presented with the Gold Duke Of Edinburgh Award by Prince Phillip himself.

What do you like about the job?

Stability, camaraderie, different jobs happening all the time, different career options and being able to move around and experience varying situations at the drop of a hat. Meeting new people all the time. Being able to help junior members where possible.