Being respectful to police and making school kids feel comfortable in speaking to police were the messages conveyed to Mulwala Public School pupils recently.
The scheduled two-hour police visit was to involve other local primary schools totalling about 200 children but the continuing heavy rain meant it was solely some 60 Mulwala students as the attendees.
“It’s a community engagement project we have with the district schools,” Supervisor/Sergeant at Mulwala Police Station Gary Lewis said.
“We had one with other schools including Rand and Lowesdale recently. The idea is for a respectful engagement between police and the community, in this particular instance, police and school children. We don’t want any fear factor in children not being able to speak to us.”
Mulwala Public School Principal Gayle Pinn praised the visit by police. “It was a great opportunity for our kids to get to know our police and for the police to know our kids,” she said.
“It is an annual event now and we often have police presence at our assemblies where the police sponsor an award.”
Sergeant Lewis was accompanied by Senior Constable Kyle Jackson and the station’s newest recruit, Senior Constable Nicolas Gonzales.
The sergeant welcomed his new work colleague Senior Gonzales and said he’d be “a great asset to the team” at Mulwala.
“Senior Constable Gonzales comes with experience of city policing and has embraced his new life,” Sergeant Lewis said.
The Mulwala posting represents a promotion for Senior Gonzales. Beforehand, he was a Constable in the inner west of Sydney for five years, at Newton which has amalgamated with Marrickville.
He has taken an instant liking to his new town of residence.
“It’s a lovely community, very welcoming and the greeting is very much appreciated,” Senior Constable Gonzales said.
Soccer and riding his motorbike are favourite pastimes of Mulwala’s newest police officer.