Jugiong welcomed new police officer Shane Collier to their town this week after his induction at Yass Police Station on Tuesday.
An experienced officer, Shane worked throughout the Murrumbidgee Police District at the head station in Griffith and a number of one- and two-man stations over the past 13 years. Shane has been a volunteer firefighter with the RFS for 32 years and already joined the Jugiong RFS in his first week in town.
“Personally, I think I’m more suited to country policing,” he said. “I’m very community-focused.”
Shane said he’s always believed that community policing is best.
“I make myself known in the community and look after the town first.”
Although Shane only moved just over a week ago, he has visited the region in the past and said he’s always enjoyed the area.
He said a lot of the locals have come up and already introduced themselves when he was out and about or just sitting on the front porch.
Shane is based out of Jugiong but will also be working out of the Yass Police Station.
“[The Jugiong] Station’s attached to the house, so my commute to work is through a door in the hallway,” Shane joked.
Shane is no stranger to the country after spending much of his adolescence as a Jackaroo at a cattle station.
In his early 20s Shane worked as a Prison Officer for about ten years. The majority of which he spent working at Long Bay Correctional Centre in Sydney in the late 80s and 90s.
After a stint driving trucks and working for himself, Shane bought a farm in Leighton NSW.
Unfortunately, after about eight years of drought Shane said money was hard to come by on the farm so he decided to give the police force a try.
Shane joined the force later in life at 39 and graduated from the academy in 2009, recommending to anyone that wants a change in their life to try the police force.
A man of many hobbies, Shane enjoys hiking, fishing, and camping so was already acquainted with the Yass Valley and surrounding area.
Before the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, Shane was on Mt Ever- est in Nepal at a base camp. He said of the experience that he liked hills but where he was last stationed in Murrumbidgee was “as flat as a billiard table”.
Once we’re all settled in, I’ll be taking on the backpack and going for a long walk,” Shane said. “I enjoy the solitude and I enjoy getting back to nature.”
By Brianna O’Rourke
