Constable Rob Moreland is striving to improve community-police engagement

Nov 20, 2020

WHILE still at the infancy stage of his career, constable Rob Moreland knows what it takes to get the best out of a rural community.

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After all, he lives and breathes the country way, having spent his entire life in the Loddon Mallee Region.

One of the three recent additions to Kyabram Police’s ranks, Const Moreland graduated from the Victoria Police Academy in 2018 and has been stationed at Shepparton and Echuca.

Const Moreland said he decided to pursue a policing career at 35 years old after hitting a wall in his previous career.

“I wanted to do a bit more in the community and serve and help people. I also wanted to do something that wasn’t so repetitive,” he said.

“It was a substantial pay drop from my old position and obviously the hours of police officers aren’t Monday to Friday, so the luxuries of seeing family and friends on weekends and after work was also a consideration but I thought moving to something where I can help people would outweigh that.

“My family is here, and my wife’s family is in the area as well. We’re definitely not going anywhere and definitely will be staying long-term in the area that’s for sure.”

Const Moreland said the second he joined the Kyabram police station in October, he knew he had found his home.

“I haven’t been here that long but growing up in the area and knowing my way around does assist a lot . . . all of the little towns are great in my opinion. You couldn’t pay me enough to go to the city and work. I just love it up here,” he said.

“Echuca, Ky, Tat, Stanhope, Rushy, Tonny . . . all these places are great little towns.

“It’s a really good station here and the sergeants and our senior-sergeant are so supportive it’s unbelievable. I’m loving it at Ky at the moment.

“We’re a big team here. And that’s the great thing about Kyabram station.”

But that’s not to say it has been a holiday – as the work of a police officer is never really done, even when you clock off at the end of a long shift.

Const Moreland said his time at the academy was a foundational experience, and he was still learning and adjusting every day on the job.

“It was a lot of hard work (in the academy), but you know what you’re getting in to going in. There’s a lot of late-night studying, physical training and it keeps changing from class-to-class. One second, you’ll be doing something physical, then learning something on law, then something physical again in the afternoon. That basically rolls on for nine months non-stop,” he said.

“There are a lot of situations that you go to that no matter how much work you do at the academy, you will never be prepared for. There are things that you see and things that some people do, you will never be prepared for.

“And that’s something where you need to learn to find coping mechanisms to deal with. It really helps when you have a good group around you.”

Const Moreland said it was his mission to get the community’s engagement with police at an all-time high.

And while such a thing cannot be achieved overnight, he said the entirety of Kyabram police had banded together for a common goal.

“Because I am from the country, I like to be community-focused and try and engage with the community. That includes speaking to people, letting them know we’re around and try to assist in any way we can large or small,” he said.

“We’re trying to push and do the things that haven’t been done before like getting that community focus back and the things the community want to see . . . more of an old school type of engagement but still being very active.

“We’ve still got a lot left in us that we want to try and push and help make Kyabram and the surrounding areas a better place.”