Opening doors
Development, learning and growing are the aims most people have when progressing through their career.
In Horsham Police Custody Officer Lia Landrigan’s case, she is finding her career change to Victoria Police four years ago is elevating her opportunities.
Officer Landrigan is responsible for managing persons in police custody, ensuring their health, wellbeing and safety, while also supervising staff and visitors.
She was among one of the first groups of 400 recruited for the Victoria Police Police Custody Officer, PCO, positions, first introduced in 2016.
Officer Landrigan said she found joining the police force an exciting challenge after moving on from her previous employment.
“I wanted a change. I was a locksmith by trade. It’s been a great experience so far,” she said.
Officer Landrigan said the recruitment process was highly practical, with PCOS undergoing an eight-week course before starting on-the-job training.
“It’s a good job to go into unskilled – not having to have a particular field that you are an expert in. You are also paid while you are trained.
“The academy training is for eight weeks opposed to 12 months for police officers.”
Officer Landrigan said working in the custody division had also given her insight into the internal operations of the police force.
“This position still gives us insight. If we want to step into a role as a police officer, we’ll know what we’re getting into,” she said.
“There’s really good people we work with. When I first started here, I felt very welcome.
“You need that when it comes to this job because it can be quite stressful at times when dealing with people who might not be compliant.
“You can have people in custody up to four days at a time and you’ve to be constantly alert and watching them.”
Officer Landrigan said PCOS could serve an important role as mediators between police officers and prisoners.
“Prisoners know that we are different to police, we’re the middle-man, so they might be fine with us,” she said.
Horsham Police Senior Sergeant Leigh Creasey said the roll-out of PCOS in Victoria had also relieved police officers from custody-related duties, allowing them to concentrate on frontline policing.
“Before the PCO program, police officers did it all. Having these additional resources – we have seven PCOS – is a strength here in Horsham,” he said.
“PCOS were introduced to take the pressure off the police, to get them back on the road.
“Because we’ve got a unit that deals solely in custody issues, they become experts in that area.
“There’s a lot of intricacies on what we need to do with reporting online. The PCOS probably run this better than the police, because the police were in and out constantly.”
• A Police Expo in Horsham scheduled for March 28, in conjunction with an inaugural Cops and Robbers Wimmera River Parkrun, has been postponed.