Sen. Sgt Chris Martin: Busy start to new role in charge of Geraldton Police Station

I am now a week into my new role as the officer in charge at Geraldton Police Station and it already feels like I’ve worked a month.

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It’s been really rewarding to learn the roles and responsibilities of each of the 100 staff members down at the station, and it’s been positive to see a lot of new ideas flow from them which we’ll hopefully begin to see implemented over the coming months.

Holding the office of OIC feels like a juggling act every day, managing our response to the incidences of crime over the past 24 hours and how best to channel our resources to combat that.

I’m very appreciative of everyone in the wider Geraldton community who has reached out to wish me the best in the role, and my message to all is “let’s keep the communication going”.

I really believe a strong relationship between police and the community is essential to successful policing, so as the face of the station, I’ll do my best to continue to build this dialogue.

I strongly really believe a strong relationship between police and the community is essential to successful policing, so as the face of the station, I’ll do my best to continue to build this dialogue.

What are the current crime trends in the Geraldton community?

What suburbs and areas are being targeted?

How can we accurately and effectively respond to these offences?

Building community engagement. As I outlined above, this is essential to policing success.

Listening to the wider Geraldton community to develop and plan our strategies to address criminal offending.

It’s been a challenging first week, but I’ve enjoyed meeting stakeholders in the community and finding out the stress points of the role.

I’ll be listening to our residents and, whether the reaction is good, bad or indifferent, it’s my job to respond to community needs.

Sen. Sgt Chris Martin is the new officer in charge of Geraldton Police Station