Hatch leaves SW a better place

Police Supt. Peter Hatch will leave the South West with a trail of destruction, much like the fires which appear to have welcomed and farewelled him to the region.

Although, unlike the devastating fires he has encountered, Supt Hatch’s path entails the destruction of crime and drugs.

It is uncanny the 49-year-old began his position as superintendent almost three years ago to the day as fires ravaged the shires of Bridgetown-Greenbushes and Donnybrook.

And he leaves the South West reeling from the devastation of the Waroona fires, which have kept him busy past his intended last day on Friday at his Bunbury office.

But Supt Hatch said the fires had not defined his position in the South West and claims a crackdown on crime and drugs as his pinnacle.

Supt Hatch will spend his 30th year in the police force as a divisional superintendent in the forensic division in Perth.

He described his role as South West superintendent as a “custodian” one.

“You only look after it, ” he said

“You can choose to look after it really well and really enforce things and I think that’s what we’ve done.”

He said he had three key focuses for the South West when he started his position in 2013.

They included reducing crime, getting drugs off the streets and emergency management.

He said his team had been successful in its efforts to bring down crime with the region recording the lowest number of offences against property and the second lowest against a person in the State last year.

He said his team had also “belted the hell out of drugs” across several operations.

One of his biggest challenges has perhaps been the recent fires in Waroona and his position as district emergency management coordinator.

“I’ll never forget going out like this, I’ll never forget everything going through it, ” Supt Hatch said.

“It is what it is and it’s been a blast.

“I’ve had a good team and everybody in the South West works really hard – obviously we don’t always get it right, but I think we got it right a fair bit of the time.”

Supt Hatch will make the move north with his two youngest daughters and wife, Nicole, who has also been promoted from the South West office to a detective sergeant in the South Metro District Control Centre.

He said the hardest thing to walk away from was his involvement with the basketball community in the South West, where he coached several junior teams.

“We take good memories away from the South West and leave with a very heavy heart, ” he said.