Violet Town's lone ranger

YOU could be forgiven for wondering if Ian Hamill has much to do. He is the only police officer in Violet Town, where just 29 criminal incidents were recorded in the year ending March 2024. Compare that to Melbourne CBD, which recorded an average of 42 criminal incidents per day, or a total of 15,266. Before taking the job in Violet Town last year, Mr Hamill was an officer in Alexandra for 27 years, then Echuca for five years. “My wife and I thought Echuca might have been a little bit warmer in the winter months as we got older,” he said. “But Echuca is very different to policing here or at Alexandra. “Echuca is more reactive policing, where Violet Town and Alexandra were proactive policing. “We have time to be involved in the community, time to attend community events or give talks. “Time for me to go and have lunch at the kindergarten or at the primary school with the kids.” Many of the incidents he is called to are not criminal matters at all, Mr Hamill explained. “I've been to one gentleman's house here, he believed that someone came to his house and tampered with his TV reception; now they’ve tampered with his phone lines,” he said. “None of this has happened, but the gentleman was just having a few problems. “So, I organised a local tradesperson to go and check his aerial, which was fine, but the old gentleman was now happy, and his television seems to be working now. “Not a criminal matter, but again, getting involved with the community.” In the 2021 census, Violet Town recorded a population of 936. “They all think that I'm their private policeman,” Mr Hamill said. He explained his active community involvement allows him to nip crimes in the bud, before they escalate or happen again. For example, he may hear Bob was seen driving home from the pub after one too many beers. There is not enough evidence to charge Bob, but Mr Hamill may tell the man what he knows, and suggest Bob change his habits before he is charged with an offence next time. Or he might hear a local schoolkid is responsible for some graffiti. Again, no hard evidence, but it’s enough for Mr Hamill to have a word with the kid and his parents. The 61-year-old, who was once a keen footballer, runs water at local under 18 football games. “I'm just trying to build a rapport with the kids,” he said. “The kids are great, but they're only 17 now. “I want to build a rapport, so they trust the police and will do what the police say when they're 21, when they're in the pub or driving a car.” This is not to say Mr Hamill never reacts to crimes as they happen. In what he called his biggest job while in Violet Town, he said that, in November last year, he chased a suspect on foot for three kilometres through paddocks, after the man allegedly crashed a car at 175 kilometres per hour into a moving truck on the Hume Freeway. Mr Hamill said drugs and allegedly stolen property were discovered in the car, which had rolled several times after the crash. Following the driver’s arrest, tests found he had allegedly driven under the influence, Mr Hamill said. The job is not always that interesting, he admitted, especially when his shifts stretch into the evening. “It does get a little bit lonely late at night… it's pretty dark and lonely in Violet Town at 10pm,” he said. But the easygoing cop clearly loves his work. “I love it – I see more reward,” Mr Hamill said. “Rather than you being the victim, where someone has just run through your house and stolen your car keys, and all I can do is basically take a report and go off to the next job… here, it's a little bit slower, so I can really finish something that's started.”

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