Peter Toomey Police Officer of the Year Award Nominee – Alison Keppel

Crime Prevention Office, Leading Senior Constable Alison Keppel of the Heidelberg Police was awarded for her outstanding efforts with Crime Prevention in the Banyule Region surrounding areas.

As part of our community service program, the Rotary Club of Rosanna last week presented the Community Police Officer of the Year award.

To win the award, the nominated officer had to meet criteria such as demonstrating outstanding service to the community including flexibility, leadership, integrity, respect, professionalism, support and work ethic.

After winning this award, Leading Senior Constable Keppel will be nominated for the Peter Toomey Memorial Community Police Officer of the Year set to be awarded in March of 2020 in Albury.

The Heidelberg Police officer was the ‘main driver’ in setting up crime prevention strategies within the area to help reduce crime and to engage with the local community and groups.

“Just the recognition of being nominated is a great thrill and honour in itself. I like to go above and beyond to better engage with the community as we strive to reduce crime and make people aware of how to understand, recognise and prevent criminal activity.”

“I wanted to build trust and confidence within the community, make them aware of strategies and actions that can help identify and reduce crime within the Banyule region,” she said.

Rotary Club president Gail Robertson said the awards night gave the club a chance to highlight the work of our hard working police officers.

This awards night saw the culmination of work between the club and local police in receiving nominations and assessing worthy winners of the Community Police Officer of the Year,” she said.

“We have established good working relations between the club and the local station supervisors, and they look forward to working with us each year.”