Sergeant takes his policing to Margs
Sgt Brett Cassidy loves being a police officer. He loves being the face of the community and helping people in any way he can.
But from this week he will be helping people in Margaret River, leaving his position as the respected officer in charge of Australind Police Station.
His connection to the region goes back to the very start of his career.
After graduating from the academy in 1990 he was sent to the Bunbury Police Station for two years.
Following a three-year stint in Geraldton he came back to work as a constable at Australind when the station first opened in 1996, staying for eight years.
Since 2006, he has worked in senior positions in Bunbury before he became the officer in charge at Australind in February this year.
He has seen Bunbury and Australind transform before his eyes from country towns to urban centres.
“When I was here in 1990 Australind was a suburb of Bunbury,” Sgt Cassidy said.
His community policing philosophy is matched by his willingness to become part of local sporting clubs.
He was well known for playing cricket and football in the Bunbury region.
“If you want to get the best out of yourself and get the best result you have to get involved in the community,” he said.
He takes this philosophy seriously and said it had been useful during his career.
He helped defuse a tense situation in Pemberton between environmentalists and loggers when he made links to sporting clubs during a stint in 1999.
He also played in a Southerners Football Club reserves premiership in his short time there.
Sgt Cassidy said one of the biggest moments of his career was being involved in the police operation in managing the Collie Climate Camp in the mid-2000s.
He helped to gather intelligence which exposed him to a different role as an officer.
He described the posting to Margaret River as a challenge rather than a retirement.
There are 220 licensed premises and dealing with the flowon effects of this prevalence of alcohol will be a focus.
