Two new senior sergeants will be overseeing law and order in the Macedon Ranges with a focus on working together with the community.
Amanda Cohen has been appointed officer in charge at Gisborne Police Station while Martin Kappel is the new OIC at Kyneton.
Both are local residents and excited to have an opportunity to work within the shire in which they live.
“I couldn’t have had a more welcoming experience, not just from my members and support staff, but also the community,” Sen-Sgt Cohen said of her first month in the role.
Sen-Sgt Kappel, fresh in his new role after just two weeks, said he was also looking forward to getting to know the community and his team at Kyneton.
“One thing I need to learn is what the community concerns are up here and if there is anything we can do to impact those or alleviate them,” he said.
Sen-Sgt Cohen said the first month had also been about getting to know her members and what their skills and traits were.
“They’ve done regional policing for a long time, I’m new to that role,” she said.
“If you keep your people happy and you understand your people, they can make your job a lot easier!”
The new positions are quite a change of pace for the two officers, both of whom have decades of experience in a variety of senior metropolitan policing roles – Sen-Sgt Cohen most recently in a detective sergeant role at the Armed Crime squad and Sen-Sgt Kappel as senior sergeant at the Transit Safety Division working across Melbourne’s north west.
Sen-Sgt Cohen has been within Victoria Police for 17 years both in uniform and investigation units in Melbourne and the Crime Command.
In 2019, she was selected as one of 25 young leaders to represent Australia at the Young Leadership Dialogue and was awarded the ‘John Hill’ award for the most promising investigator for the year of 2008.
Sen-Sgt Kappel spent many years working in the sex offence/child sexual abuse division and as a detective, as well as spending three years with the Australian Federal Police.
He has also worked as a United Nations peacekeeper in Cyprus and spent a year in Port Moresby, embedded in the Royal Papua New Guinea Police Force in a capacity development role.
Sen-Sgt Kappel said it was great to now have a chance to further community safety in his home shire.
“We’ve started a Coffee with a Cop initiative, which we hope to hold once a month, so people can come up and talk to us about local issues,” he said.
Sen-Sgt Cohen said Victoria Police had also recently initiated a neighbourhood policing model.
“We’ll be re-establishing the safety council, which has previously existed prior to COVID, and that will have members from the community, from relevant services and council,” she said.
