By Belinda Nolan
PAUL Watson used to spend his days removing stains from people’s clothes.
Now, he uses his eagle eyes to spot the smallest blood spots and fingerprints at Brimbank’s crime scenes.
A former dry cleaner, Senior Constable Watson was 44 years old when he stopped cleaning suits and began cleaning up the municipality’s streets.
Now 51, the forensic police officer has spent four years as a member of Sunshine Police Station’s Crime Desk.
The busiest crime desk in Victoria, the unit, manned by one sergeant and 18 officers, processes the crime scenes of burglaries, thefts and armed robberies committed in the Brimbank area.
The team does a lot the groundwork for Sunshine’s Criminal Investigation Unit. As Sen Const Watson puts it: “We have our finger in a lot of pies”.
The passionate policeman is living proof that you are never too old to follow your dreams.
“Being a policeman was always something I wanted to do but it was put on the back-burner for many years,” Sen Const Watson said.
“I ran my own businesses and it wasn’t until I sold them that I seriously considered the possibility of a career in the force.
“I had a few friends who were police officers and they encouraged me to give it a crack but I thought I was too old.
“It just goes to show you that you are never too old to give something new a go.”
Sen Const Watson said he had always found forensics fascinating and had found his dream job.
“A lot of what we do is quite fiddly, like fingerprinting but when you get a result back it’s always a huge buzz.
“I absolutely love my job and look forward to coming into work every day, which is a great place to be.” The crime desk was recently renamed to Sunshine Crime Scene Services.
