New Dwellingup police team engage community

Dwellingup Police Station Officer in Charge Dave Harnett is joined by First Class Constable Matthew Payne who are keen to settle into the community. 

Sergeant Harnett has a background in detective work at Rockingham and was most recently working for the Internal Affairs team in Perth.

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He moved his family to Dwellingup after craving a change and had always wanted to work in the country.

“I think it is important for the OIC to live in the town they are policing – especially small country towns,” Sergeant Harnett said. 

“It gains more trust from the community.

“We do get days off but if something serious happens, we are here so can get called to duty.”

Sergeant Harnett said he wanted to engage the community – especially young people. 

“I am passionate about reducing youth crime and helping to support local initiatives,” he said.

Constable Payne was working in Brookton for three years before moving to his new role. 

The keen footballer and father-of-one said he loved working in small towns. 

“I’ll be playing for the football team and holding the Blue Light Disco,” he said. 

Sergeant Harnett said most of the crime in Dwellingup, including drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour, was generally caused by tourists and people passing through.

“It’s not usually locals, it tends to be people staying in town for a short period of time,” he said.

“If we get information from locals early, we can solve the crimes quickly.

“Meth is a big issue, I would say mostly from people passing through and we will try and gather information on that.”

Sergeant Harnett said they relied on the community to tell them what is happening.

“We want people to come and introduce themselves and let us know what is going on,” he said.

“If people see something that is not right, don’t just put it on Facebook, or sit on it – let us know.”

The pair replaced First Class Constable Luke Barron-Sullivan and Officer in Charge Matt Fitzgerald who had commuted from Mandurah the past two years. 

First Class Constable Barron-Sullivan and his wife lived in the town for two years and still travel back to help with community projects.

Dwellingup police can be reached on 9538 1057 at the office address 55 McLarty Street.

Alternatively, to report crime contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.