ACTING Sergeant Holly Lembke is keen to connect with the wider Heathcote community.<\/p>\n
She has now been based in the town for five weeks and said she wanted to build on existing positive links between local police and residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy passion is community policing,\u201d she said. \u201cAs corny as it sounds, I love helping people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting Sergeant Lembke said she wanted people to contact her with their safety concerns so she could gain a better understanding of what issues there were around town.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I can work with the community and listen to them, listen to what they say and build that relationship,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see a lot of potential for getting into the community here, it’s nice because it’s a smaller town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally hailing from Mount Beauty, she said she preferred working in a country environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a year in Melbourne when I first graduated from the academy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the traffic was horrible, so I went to Shepparton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been in Bendigo for nearly nine years, and I’ve been asked to come out here to fill the gap until permanent sergeant is appointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the smallest station I’ve worked in though, and it’s nice to be able to have the time and capacity to actually get to know the locals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are just so many ways you can help people in this role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a lot of things that I can do that the general public can’t do so I feel honoured to be in people\u2019s lives when it\u2019s often such a bad time for them and to be able to make it a bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting Sergeant Lembke said being a member of Victoria Police is was something she always wanted to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did think about joining the police when I was 18,\u201d she said. \u201cBut instead, I travelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI highly recommend it. The police have to deal with difficult people and life experience helps with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I joined when I was 25, I thought it was probably time to stop travelling and get into something with a bit of meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n