New sergeant to fight crime in Donnybrook

Donnybrook has a new leader in the fight against crime, with Sgt Ryan Van Der Heide starting as officer-in-charge this month.

Sgt Van Der Heide had spent the past three years as the head of police in Bridgetown, before deciding to take a role at Donnybrook to continue enjoying the South West lifestyle.

The experienced Sgt Van Der Heide said he hoped to bring a country style police experience when leading his four person team.

“The initial intention is to do things such as being approachable, being seen on the street and being active in the community, ” he said.

“At this stage it is about settling in town, see how things work and then making an informed decision about whether anything in town needs attention.

“It is about country policing – those critical things about being a country police officer are pretty important.”

Sgt Van Der Heide said as a father to four children himself, he believed it was important for Donnybrook to be a family friendly town.

“I think any regional community wants to be known as a safe place for children to grow up, ” he said.

“As a police officer and a parent it is a key thing to look towards enhancing and making it attractive for people to want to live in Donnybrook.”

Sgt Van Der Heide said he wanted to encourage the public to communicate with their police officers because it was an important aspect of their job.

“We are happy to be here and we look forward to being part of the community, ” he said.

“People need to feel free to come see us if they need our help and we will do our best to accommodate them.”