Long distance relationships

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

When a 200-kilometre drive from one end of your policing patch to the other is the same distance as travelling a quarter of the way across Victoria, it pays to be close to your community and your colleagues.

The 10 police officers across six stations – Donald, Charlton, Wycheproof, Culgoa, Sea Lake and Birchip – that make up the Buloke Shire cluster make it their mission to keep connected with everyone around them.

At 8000 square kilometres, the massive Buloke Shire – which straddles the Mallee and the Wimmera regions in the state’s northwest – is the fifth largest of Victoria’s 79 local government areas.

It is home to almost 6200 people, making it one of the state’s most spread-out populations, and is known for its sprawling wheat fields and sheep farms.

Sergeant Martin Nunn, the officer in charge at Donald, is determined for it also to be known for police officers who are deeply embedded in their communities.

Sgt Nunn originally hails from England, where he worked as a police officer in a specialised team responsible for working with the community to decide policing priorities and find long-term solutions to local problems.

Sgt Martin Nunn, at Donald, is a long way from his policing roots in England.

Photo: Jesse Wray-McCann

The first thing that struck him when he started working in the Buloke area more than a year ago was the vastness of the patch.

The second was its potential for the kind of policing he used to do.

“I’m really passionate about the neighbourhood policing initiative Victoria Police is now using because it’s what I love about policing,” Sgt Nunn said.

“We’re working very closely with our local people, businesses, organisations and support agencies in a comprehensive and grassroots way, where policing is just one of the levers we can pull to make the place safer for everyone.”

Sgt Nunn and his fellow Donald officers Leading Senior Constable Mark Connell and First Constable Marcel Podasca have built a special relationship with the schools in their town.

Their connection with the staff and students helps get ahead of any future problems.

Late last year, teachers at Donald High School became aware of students talking about firearms.

The school’s principal Paul Aikman asked Sgt Nunn to chat to the students.

The Buloke cluster straddles the Wimmera and Mallee regions in cropping and sheep country.

Photo: Jesse Wray-McCann

“I told the students that they may actually be committing an offence if people around them felt threatened by them talking about shooting firearms and hurting people,” Sgt Nunn said.

“I said, ‘You’ve got your whole lives ahead of you and I don’t want you to ruin it with something like this’.

“Opportunities like that are important for us because the kids now know who we are and feel comfortable to approach us when they see us out and about.

“That’s what I want, for people to know our team is approachable.”

Mr Aikman said the students, teachers and wider school community benefitted from the great relationship with police.

“It has been great having them as a presence here to be stern when they need to be but also in a way that the kids feel safer to see them around the town,” Mr Aikman said.

“We as a school love working with them as part of being a strong community here.”

Along with working as a police officer in Donald for 20 years, Ldg Sen Const Connell runs the local Auskick centre, has been president of local schools and more.

Ldg Sen Const Mark Connell is part of the furniture at Charlton, where he has been stationed for 32 years.

Photo: Jesse Wray-McCann

“I would first see people here as little kids at Auskick, then as students in high school, and now I see them again at the pubs and driving around,” Ldg Sen Const Connell said.

It is these kinds of connections that can prove pivotal in combatting crime.

“One time I was talking with someone and they brought up that they had seen a black BMW driving up and down a dirt road just out of town and it seemed kind of out of place,” Ldg Sen Const Connell said.

“We went to the address out there and found a stolen trailer, so I started having more of a look around.

“There was a tiny outdoor shed and when I opened it up, I noticed a small trapdoor in the floor.

“As soon as I opened the trapdoor, a great, big burst of light came out from underneath.

“It turned out there was a full hydroponic marijuana setup in a secret underground tank below the shed.

“That’s how we solve crimes, with the help of the community.”

Ldg Sen Const Darin Sheahan speaks with a local atop Mt Wycheproof.

Photo: Jesse Wray-McCann

Sgt Nigel MacDonald has been at Charlton for 32 years and said that despite the tiny size of each of the towns in the area, they aren’t untouched by the scourge of drugs.

“There has always been a bit of marijuana about, but in recent years we’ve seen harder drugs creeping in more,” Sgt MacDonald said.

On the day Police Life visited the area, Sgt MacDonald responded to a report of a drug overdose in town and worked with paramedics to successfully save the man’s life.

It was an incident for which Sgt Nunn, who was due to finish working for the day, rushed the 40km from Donald to Charlton to assist his colleague.

It’s the kind of backup Buloke officers are always quick to offer one another.

Despite the distances between them, they’re a tight-knit group.

It also means they spend a lot of their time on the road, which has a positive impact on traffic incidents.

Ldg Sen Const Darin Sheahan is the police officer at Wycheproof – one of four one member stations in the cluster – and said focusing on the roads is always a major theme in country policing.

Ldg Sen Const Darin Sheahan has a strong focus on road safety at Wycheproof.

Photo: Jesse Wray-McCann

“Even though we’re a small town, we’ve got the Calder Highway running straight through the middle and we can get a lot of visitors here on the weekends,” Ldg Sen Const Sheahan said.

“Especially on long weekends, traffic in Wyche can look like Springvale Road.”

Sgt Nunn said people in the area know not to speed on the roads because they always see police out and about.

“That is what policing is all about – we’re making a difference for the people we look after, and that’s exactly why I got into the job to begin with.”