Superintendent Rick Nugent is looking forward to working with the community to reduce crime. 81767 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By LAURA WAKELY
GROWING up in country Victoria, Rick Nugent was used to a community where everyone helped each other and supported each other.
Now he’s bringing that passion for the community to his new role as Superintendent of the Brimbank and Melton police areas.
The 46-year-old has spent more than half his life in the police force and said he enjoyed the job today as much as he did 24 years ago.
The then 22-year-old had arrived back in his hometown of Yellinboe, east of the Dandenong Ranges, after working as a jackaroo on stations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Looking for “something different” he signed up with Victoria Police and has never looked back.
During his time he’s worked as a detective in St Kilda, an inspector at the Ethical Standards Department overseeing corruption investigations, had a hand in reviews of police training and education and a Superintendent in the western region, covering crime, road policing, intelligence and community engagement from Mildura to Bendigo.
The variety of cultures and languages throughout Brimbank have caught Supt Nugent’s attention and he said he was eager that police engage with as many different communities as they could.
“There’s social issues, there’s youth issues, there’s unemployment, disengagement, there’s a whole range of other contributing factors to crime,” Supt Nugent said.
“So it’s really critical that we work in partnership with other agencies, a holistic approach, to crime in this area.”
Since arriving six weeks ago, Supt Nugent has begun restructuring units across the division to find a better “balance” and close “the gaps” so that police resources were more efficient and effective.
Some of that work will include creating separating burglary investigation teams at Brimbank and Melton, increasing the numbers at Brimbank’s Embona unit so they can add robberies to their portfolio and creating a response team to assist with crime trends, such as the recent 61 per cent increase in residential burglaries.
“Financially people aren’t as well off as they have been,” Supt Nugent said.
“We’ve already picked up that there are a number of occasions now, where people who don’t have a criminal history at all are being caught doing burglaries.”
He said Brimbank and Melton police had embraced the changes and he was confident they would be able to make a difference.
“I know we’ve got some challenges… but working together with the community, I’m sure, I’m confident, we’ll have a big impact on (crime).”
