PA/38/10 3 June 2010
Four of Indian background join Victoria Police
Victoria’s diversity reflected in police force
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland has urged members of the Indian community to consider a career with Victoria Police.
Mr Overland joined four police officers of Indian background in addressing members of the Indian media about Victoria Police’s desire to attract a more diverse range of police recruits.
Mr Overland said that in July this year Victoria Police would launch an official recruitment advertising campaign to help employ more than 1700 additional front line police over the next five years.
Victoria Police figures compiled in January this year showed that 9 per cent of potential police recruits were born in India, three per cent in Pakistan and 2.4 per cent in Sri Lanka. Sixty per cent listed Australia as their country of birth.
In addition, of the 11,904 police officers working for Victoria Police in January, 730 or just 6.1 per cent were born overseas. This includes 34 officers born on the Indian sub-continent (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).
Mr Overland said he wanted to see this figure increase considerably and attract more officers with diverse cultural backgrounds.
“The Victorian community is the most ethnically diverse in Australia. It is important that our police reflect this and that we attract officers from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds including the Indian community. This is the only way that we are going to create greater trust and understanding with the community,” Mr Overland said.
“Policing is a worthwhile and credible profession which is rewarding, challenging and a secure career choice. We have high standards and want the best people for the job irrespective of where you were born or your racial or religious background.
“It is all about your skills and ability and we want our recruits to demonstrate our key values of integrity, leadership, flexibility, respect, support and professionalism.
These values are clearly represented in the four police officers who joined Mr Overland in encouraging members of the Indian community to consider joining Victoria Police.
All four spoke about their background and why they joined Victoria Police.
Senior Constable Dinesh Nettur is of Indian and Sri Lankan heritage and joined Victoria Police in 1997, after holding various jobs including working in hospitality, for Village Cinemas and as a bus boy in nightclubs, and a taxi driver one summer in Geelong.
Senior Constable Nettur has worked right across metropolitan Melbourne including St Kilda, Collingwood, South Melbourne and the Melbourne Custody Centre. He is currently a Multicultural Liaison Officer in Region 1.
When he joined Victoria Police he said there were only a couple of police of Indian background. He admitted he had found his training at the Police Academy tough but said policing was an incredibly rewarding career.
“Police officers experience something new everyday and the outcomes are quite rewarding. I definitely encourage people of all backgrounds to join Victoria Police as we really need people from different cultures and who can speak different languages,” Sen Const Nettur said.
“Getting through the Academy is not an easy thing to do but we all support each other to realise our dreams.”
Senior Constable Ash Dixit, based at Melbourne West Police Station, came to Australia 11 years ago as a business student.
“For me it all happened by chance. My housemate went to visit the Victoria Police Museum and came back with a plastic bag which said Victoria Police – Join Now and I thought why not,” Sen Const Dixit said.
“In India you cannot join the police force once you are 28 but when I called Victoria Police they said I wasn’t too old to apply. Some of my friends said I was crazy and that it would be a waste of my business degree but I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
However, getting into Victoria Police was no easy feat as Sen Const Dixit first needed to learn how to swim. It took him ten months to do so, but he achieved his goal.
“I wasn’t the last person to come out of the pool, there were three after me,” he said with a laugh.
Sen Cont Dixit advised people who are interested in a policing career to firstly spend a couple of years in Australia before considering joining.
“Get an understanding of the language, culture and local environment and get a basic grounding in the legal system before joining Victoria Police.”
Constable Dilbar Singh, who is fluent in both Punjabi and Hindi, came to Australia when he was 18, as an international student. He has worked as a chef and in factories. He joined Victoria Police in 2007 and is currently based at Mordialloc Police Station.
“I thought I would give it a go. Everyone was so helpful through every step of the recruitment process and I made some really good friends at the Academy,” Const Singh said.
“It is the best job with so much variety. There are so many different areas you can work in, you go out and face unexpectant things. It’s a different world and when you attend incidents you are the leader, it is up to you to take charge of the situation as people are relying on you. It is very rewarding work.”
Const Manjot Singh came to Australia six years ago, also as an international student. At first, he had a lot of difficulty settling into the Australian way of life, relying on wise advice from his mother back in India to get him through.
“When I got here the airport was like a Hollywood movie. It was all an absolute mess for me. I could not understand the language, I could not understand the slang,” Const Singh said.
“After a year I spoke to my mum and she said I needed to live like an Australian so I ate some meat pies and even bought a BBQ but it still didn’t work.”
Eventually Const Singh started to feel like he fitted in, getting a job as a taxi driver and even meeting and marrying an Australian. He is currently working in the Transit Safety Division.
He said he is proud to be an ambassador for Victoria Police and for the broader multicultural community.
In March 2010, he played a vital role supporting an Indian family whose three-year-old son died.
“I could speak the same language and could help the family get through what they were going through,” Const Singh said.