Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke has welcomed two new police recruits as they take their first steps out on the beat in the Cootamundra electorate.
Constable Megan Hunt and Constable James Ryan graduated from Goulburn Police Academy’s Class 334 in August and are now ready to start pounding the beat of their new home towns.
Constable Hunt will be based at Cootamundra while Constable Ryan will work at Gundagai.
Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke was delighted to see more police officers serving communities in the Cootamundra electorate.
“It’s absolutely fantastic, our small towns are being really well supported now with more frontline police,” she said.
“That’s what I came into this role promising and we are starting to see that roll out.”
Ms Cooke pointed out that more officers will be posted to other parts of the Cootamundra electorate.
“We’ve got more probationers starting out in Cowra and soon out of West Wyalong in the next few months.
“It’s good to see more resources coming into our small communities.
“It’s exciting to see these officers in our communities – hopefully in the long term they’ll want to stay and embed themselves and create a life here, because our small country towns need them and we feel we have a lot to offer them,” she added.
Superintendent Bob Noble, Commander of the Riverina Police District, is happy to see more recruits embarking on a new phase in their lives.
“It’s very exciting to see two young people starting their policing careers, one in Cootamundra and one in Gundagai – it’s exciting for them and it’s exciting for us too,” he said.
“With Constable Hunt coming from south-western Sydney and Constable Ryan moving here from the Southern Highlands, they’ll bring different perspectives and a diversity of views that can only enhance our policing program in the Cootamundra-Gundagai area.
“Police training is so much more thorough and sophisticated than it has ever been, and this means I would expect to see these young officers emerge as community leaders in their own right within Gundagai and Cootamundra in the next couple of years,” he added.
DSC0325 Caption: Constable James Ryan and Constable Megan Hunt graduated from Goulburn Police Academy’s Class 334 in August and will be based in Gundagai and Cootamundra.
DSC0333 Caption: Constable James Ryan and Constable Megan Hunt discuss their new roles with Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke.
