Hello from Sergeant Nathan Jones at the Portarlington Police Station

Hello from Sergeant Nathan Jones at the Portarlington Police Station

Tuesday, 31st August 2021

Hello, I would like to thank now Senior Sergeant Dean PARRELLO for all his hard work and dedication in getting the Portarlington Police Station up and running again. It has made my transition into the role very easy.

Let me introduce myself to you all. I have been a member of Victoria Police for 19 years, having served in central Melbourne, Broadmeadows, Transit Safety Division and now the Geelong area since 2008.  I am “on loan” to Portarlington Police Station until October this year, however I will be hoping to make this a more permanent move from the Geelong Police Station.

Prior to VicPol I was with the Australian Army for 7 years, before I discharged and moved back to the Bellarine Peninsula to take up a new career. Constant overseas deployments and a young family are a hard act to juggle!

Now the month of August has seen us as a community move into our 6th lockdown in 18 months. This has brought with it a new set of challenges for us at Portarlington. Many of our holiday residents have left their places vacated, due to the current Chief Health Officers restrictions being in force prohibiting movement outside of a 5 KM radius from home, keeping our temporary visitors and tourists away from this magnificent part of the world. As a station, we have increased our presence out in the community and have been checking in on vacant houses. However, we also need the communities help in having all eyes on the ground, so if you know something, or see something, please contact “000’ in an Emergency situation, but you can contact the Police Assistance Line (PAL) either on 131 444 or online at www.police.vic.gov.au/palor, or contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. This can also be used to report any COVID-19 breaches that are happening in your neighbourhoods.

On a crime point of view, we are lucky to have only a very small amount of reported crime in our area in August 2021, the majority of incidents being criminal damage in the form of Graffiti. I ask that you all please keep an eye out for this and report it appropriately. This will assist us in keeping on top of things.

Unfortunately with all the current COVID-19 restrictions, “Coffee With A Cop” is sitting on the bench and paused, but as soon as we can, we will have it up and running.

So I will leave it from here and on the bright side, winter is nearly behind us and we can look forward to some warmer days ahead. Please don’t hesitate to ring me, or any other of the members here at Portarlington. We are your Police, in your community. Next month we will have a look at “scams” and explore them as a topic of conversation.

Stay Safe.

Nathan

Source: Sergeant Nathan Jones