Superintendent Chris McKinnon has been officially appointed as new Commander of the Murrumbidgee Police District, bringing 34 years of experience in the regions and in Sydney with him.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After starting of his career in Queanbeyan, Superintendent McKinnon was stationed in Western Sydney and then Sydney city for 20 years as a detective before transferring to Young and then Armidale.
According to Superintendent McKinnon, the position was a 'pleasant surprise' to him, after filling in as interim Commander after Superintendent Craig Ireland left the role in July.
"I have a fair amount of experience, especially in the investigative field," Superintendent McKinnon said.
"As a result of this, I am very strong on police ensuring they are investigating matter properly and taking every step necessary to ensure we are assisting the community in solving crimes rather than doing the bare minimum and moving on to the next job."
Superintendent McKinnon also shared previous Commander Superintendent Ireland's prioritisation on stamping out domestic violence in the community.
"Domestic violence crime rates are high state wide and I hope that we are able to work on this to get these numbers down within Murrumbidgee communities," Superintendent McKinnon said.
"I am also wanting to place a focus on diverting youth from engaging in criminal activity, and pivot them away from the criminal justice system.
"These are very high priorities for the district."
READ MORE
In the coming weeks and months, Superintendent McKinnon told The Area News that he looked forward to travelling to all of the 14 police stations within the district to meet police colleagues and engage with local communities.
"It is great that Griffith is just about in the centre of the district, it makes it very easy to travel around to the different stations," Superintendent McKinnon said.
"I look forward to meeting with community members and elected officials, some of whom I have been lucky enough to meet already."
In terms of COVID-19 compliance, Superintendent McKinnon said he was more than impressed by the willingness to comply locally.
"We have been very lucky in the Murrumbidgee Police District that we haven't had major outbreaks of COVID so it is very important that we maintain compliance with those health orders," Superintendent McKinnon said.
"As recently as yesterday (Thursday) only 19 infringements were given across our whole district which is fantastic overall.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.areanews.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News