Taking stock: a career on the frontline

For many, the idea of working in the same role for almost four decades would conjure thoughts of a career of monotony.

But after working on divisional vans for an impressive 38 years, Leading Senior Constable Andy Haines knows that general duties policing is anything but monotonous.

The 61-year-old was one of the many officers to whom former Chief Commissioner Mick Miller would say upon their graduation from the Victoria Police Academy in the 1980s, “Welcome to the greatest show on Earth”.

In his time on the van, Ldg Sen Const Haines came to realise frontline officers have a front row ticket to that show.

Having grown up on King Island, his interest in policing started at age 12 when, on a visit to Melbourne, he saw a police officer directing traffic in the city at a location known as ‘12 point’.

“I remember telling my mother that I was going to be a policeman,” Ldg Sen Const Haines said.

More than a decade later — after finishing school and then six years in the navy — one of Ldg Sen Const Haines’s first posts out of the Victoria Police Academy was with the City Traffic Patrol Division, where he worked as many shifts as he could directing traffic at 12 point.

His early years on the van included working at Broadmeadows, Altona North and Carlton.

“My first training station was Broadmeadows, and what a baptism of fire that was,” he said.

“Street gangs like the Lebanese Tigers and Broady Boys were around in those days.”

Eventually he would end up at Dromana, where he spent most of the past two decades working on the van.

“It was very early on that I realised working the van was what I wanted to do,” Ldg Sen Const Haines said.

And he is honest about his reasons for staying on the frontline for so long.

“There are the old clichés like, ‘I want to help people’, ‘I want to keep the community safe, and change the world’,” he said.

“But in reality, it was fun. “Every time you went to work, you never knew what was going to happen during your shift.

“Yes, you got to help people on a daily basis, locked crooks up and all that, but you also had a laugh every day.”

It was that enjoyment of the job that made, and continues to make, Ldg Sen Const Haines effective in his job.

“I think that when you really enjoy what you do, you enjoy getting up and going to work and getting the job done,” he said.

His decades at Victoria Police have been full of changes. Technology improvements have been at the forefront of making his job easier and safer.

“When you did a name check in the 1980s you would be waiting on the side of the road for 20 minutes.

It would be even longer if the D24 operator was to ring the records department, who would then have a person manually go through the cards to get the person’s history, ring the D24 operator back, who would then relay the information to you,” Ldg Sen Const Haines said.

“Now, with the iPads we carry, you can check the car, person and their history before you even intercept the vehicle.

“It’s a lot safer for members, knowing who they are pulling over.”

When Ldg Sen Const Haines first started at Broadmeadows, he said he had to use the “find them and grind them” method with the divisional vans’ three-on-the-tree gear stick.

Although the vehicles have improved since then, Ldg Sen Const Haines fears there are other things that haven't.

“Most of the people I work with will probably tell you that I still struggle driving and parking a van,” he said.

While Ldg Sen Const Haines finished up his time on the van in December last year, he is now helping the next generation of frontline officers.

Each shift at Frankston Police Station, an officer is rostered to work in the equipment issue office, checking in and checking out the firearms and other equipment for colleagues working on the vans.

Knowing that he was in the twilight of his career, Ldg Sen Const Haines put forward a proposal to his former Broadmeadows van colleague and now divisional boss Superintendent Adrian White. “

The members who have to work in the equipment issue office are young and keen, and they don’t really want to do it, so I offered to do it full-time and take carriage of the office,” he said.

Ldg Sen Const Haines was thrilled when his plan was endorsed and that his role allows young constables to get out on the van as much as possible and gain vital experience.

“In this role, I get to meet all the members when they get their equipment and they cannot believe that I spent so long on the van,” he said.

“They think I’m a legend, and I don’t tell them any different.

“They know I am available for any advice they need or just to come and have a chat and, of course, a laugh.”

Editorial: Lane Mihaljevic and Jesse Wray-McCann

Photography: Jesse Wray-McCann