New inspector has a community focus
Building close relationships between police and the wider community will be a focus for new Baw Baw police services area inspector Alison Crombie.
Ms Crombie joined the police force in 1981 during an era of a very different style of policing, particularly for women.
In fact, her career was delayed for a period when Victoria Police were “not taking any more women” so she took on a job with the Federal Police until female recruitment resumed.
“There have been lots of hurdles and it has certainly changed for the better…but there is still a long way to go.”
A career in the police force appealed to Ms Crombie because she wanted to serve the community.
“I wanted to give back to the community and I am very genuine about that.”
Ms Crombie comes to Baw Baw from the Southern Metro Region where she served three years as road policing inspector based in Dandenong.
Her role within road policing was very strategic focussed and about reducing lives lost on roads.
Ms Crombie, who lives in Cardinia Shire, now welcomes a return to community based policing and connecting with local community members.
“We need the community to be our eyes and ears.
“In a community like this where people know one another, it’s important they report incidents. If we don’t know something is happening, we can’t take proactive measures to respond.
“Crop houses (growing marijuana), hoon driving behaviour and graffiti are examples of where community members can bring their observations to our attention. It’s about working with police.
She said recent initiatives of police working closely with builders and trade contractors to curb building site burglaries was another example of how community and police can work together successfully.
Ms Crombie said working with the community was about building relationships and engaging with other organisations, not just residents.
“I have already found out how good the council is with councillors being keen to work with us.
“I am keen to work with the community, council and members of the liquor accord all of which works well in this area.
Ms Crombie also is aware a growing community will need more police resources.
She said Drouin’s population was almost matching Warragul, yet it had only a 16hour station with a sergeant plus five officers.
While acknowledging calls for a new Drouin police station, she said that was not necessarily the answer.
“They can build all the stations they want but we need to factor in resourcing the station.
There are 54 uniform members in this psa plus a family violence unit, highway patrol and CIU. In a growing community there needs to be a ratio of police to population numbers so that effective service delivery can be achieved.
“The community needs to let the council and local politicians know what they need and expect from police.
In Baw Baw, intervening in family violence situations is no different to other areas across the state and has become a major focus of policing efforts.
Ms Crombie said most recent figures in the Baw Baw psa showed an increase in the reporting of family violence, which traditionally occurred as community members become confident in reporting family violence to police.
“A good family violence unit provides the community with the confidence to report violence and it is fantastic to see the courts taking this form of criminal activity more seriously.
“There is a concerted effort by everyone to mitigate the incidence of family violence.”
After three years in road policing, Ms Crombie is keen to continue work on reducing the number of lives lost on our local roads and will support local traffic operations in that endeavour.
“You may see us out in numbers conducting random preliminary breath testing.
“I am passionate about reducing the number of lives lost on our roads as every life lost has an impact on the broader community.
“There is always more we can do as a community to reduce road trauma and it begins with each and every driver on our roads taking responsibility for their actions and driving within the speed limits. Our bodies aren’t designed to sustain the impact of high speed collisions.”
Ms Crombie’s credited career has included two years in Papua New Guinea working with AusAid as an advisor to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. She also worked for a short time at Villawood detention centre and as a manager and investigator within Sydney’s hospital system.
Her roles in Victoria Police have included time as a detective, and prosecutor and inspector roles at the Professional Standards Unit and licensing services.
Ms Crombie replaces former inspector Chris Major, who has been transferred as part of the regular rotation process for inspectors.