THE city’s leading sergeant will farewell the Blue Lake city to take on a new challenge in Adelaide next month following seven years at the helm of the Mount Gambier police force.
Mount Gambier Police officer in charge Senior Sergeant Chris King will move to the Golden Grove station after accepting a senior role in the metropolitan area.
A respected member within the local station and the wider community, Snr Sgt King said it was a bittersweet feeling to be leaving the Limestone Coast.
“I was actually stationed in Penola and Naracoorte in the late 80s and early 90s, so it is almost 17 years in total I have been stationed in the Limestone Coast and I am very fond of the area,” Snr Sgt King said.
“It’s been a very good community to work in, but nothing ever stays still, so I’m heading back to the metropolitan area for a number of reasons including family and to take on a new challenge.”
He listed his involvement with a policing unit which has overseen a steady decline in crime rates as his proudest achievement.
“We have seen a few spikes, but generally the trend has been downwards, which has made it a very good community to police,” he said.
However, incidents still happen and the Limestone Coast has been no stranger to major events in his time at the helm.
“There’s been a few moments that stick out – one of the major incidents was the murder on the Nelson bridge, which was quite resource intensive for the police station,” he said.
“There have also been a number of disasters where there has been loss of life which you wish you could avoid, but that’s the nature of policing.”
He believed Mount Gambier residents should be proud of their community, which he said was safe.
“Over many years even though the population has increased here, the crime rate has reduced, but I guess some people do not feel safe sometimes because crime always pops up on social media from all over the world,” he said.
“One of the most unfortunate things was seeing Mount Gambier get titled as the ice capital, when the reality is the drug use is below average compared to other areas in South Australia.”
Moving on to next challenge, Snr Sgt King hoped to be able to have a positive impact in his role in the metropolitan area.
“It’s always good to have some change in any large organisation, but there will be some challenges going to the metropolitan area after some years in the country,” he said.
“The new district policing model stage two will be introduced in March, which will present some challenges, but the perceived benefits out of it will be good.
“I think probably the biggest challenge will be managing the demand for police services because that is something that has been on the increase.”
