Sergeant Wayne Williams is the new officer in charge at Healesville.
By Kath Gannaway
SERGEANT Wayne Williams says he has big shoes to fill in taking on the role of top cop at Healesville.
His appointment comes five months after the tragic death of Sergeant Tony Van Gorp who, in 15 years in the job, cemented strong links with the community and made many friends.
In the lead up to taking on his new role, Sgt Williams said he has met a number of key community organisations and both on the street and through an open door approach will continue to make those connections.
Since doing his training at St Kilda Road, Sgt Williams has worked at stations in the inner city, suburbs and country as a senior constable, sergeant and acting senior sergeant, as well as with the Drug Squad, Regional Response and Criminal Investigation units.
Forging community connections doesn’t mean a honeymoon period on crime, however, whether it’s kids not wearing bicycle helmets or taking and dealing drugs.
“I am concerned about some of the alcohol fuelled property damage and damage to persons occurring after hours and will be targeting that,” Sgt Williams said, adding there would be a ‘no tolerance’ approach by him and his team.
“There’s clearly a high incidence of drink driving in and around Healesville and partly linked in to that is hoon driving and it all contributes to the road toll.
“Catch them and they will be dealt with,” he said.
He is keen to get the message through to young people in the community, and parents, that at any age, laws apply.
He said there had already been a crackdown on bike and scooter riders not wearing helmets with fines handed out, and that it would continue.
“It’s an old law, it’s been around for a long time and the penalty, $149, is quite extreme, so for anyone who doesn’t have a helmet, investing in one will be a lot cheaper,” he said.
On the push by residents, community and business organisations and Yarra Ranges Council for a 24 hour police station at Healesville, Sgt Williams says he believes he can meet community policing expectations within the current roster and allocation.
“I accept the reasons why the public would want to see a 24-hour station and certainly resourcing of Healesville is something I know has been raised and spoken about by the police commissioner, and is taken very seriously,” he said.
He called on the community to reassess their view on the need for a 24 hour station until after summer.
“I am confident that once I am fully staffed, which I expect to be in the next few months, that the public will notice an improvement in police service including a more visible presence and some strong police enforcement.”
More pro-active rostering would, he said, enable police to target the streets at times they know there are problems.
The community could play a role in both ensuring the maximum effect of police resources and tracking the need for police by calling triple zero when they need police presence.
“A lot of people have the misapprehension that triple zero is for emergencies only,’ he said.
“What they need to understand is if they need to report someone acting suspiciously in their street, a car broken into, hooning, or any other matter where they want police to attend, they need to phone triple zero.”
Sgt Williams said he is looking forward to working with the Healesville community which had been through difficult times over the past 18 months.
“The community is clearly feeling the loss of Tony, and rightly so.
“The work he did for the community was well documented and thoroughly legendary in the efforts he made in certain areas, so they are big shoes to fill,” he said.
“I can only apply myself as best I can and try to keep the good work going that he started.’
