Shepparton police Leading Senior Constable and Youth Resource Officer Dean Lloyd was the proud recipient of a Multicultural Police Award at Melbourne’s Parliament House on Tuesday night.
“It’s definitely fantastic to get the award and it was really good to be invited down (to Parliament House),” he said. “But at the end of the day you don’t do your job for that, I just come to work and do my job.”
Ldg Sen Const Lloyd has been in the role for the past seven years working alongside Greater Shepparton’s growing multicultural community. With no two days being the same, he admitted the daily changing landscape was what kept the role fresh and exciting.
While one day can involve school visits and another can be spent talking to representatives from organisations such as Berry Street and the Department of Health and Human Services, it is clear the role is wide and diverse. “The best part is you don’t know what you are doing, but you help people all the time, it’s great,” Ldg Sen Const Lloyd said.
“You don’t really have a typical day.”
Over the years he has been involved in a number of initiatives, including the All Cultures Police Youth Committee, law education sessions for newly arrived communities, community-led events such as St George’s Rd Food Festival and Converge Festival and the Men’s Fishing Program.
Casting a line on a sunny afternoon is not something most people can call work, but Ldg Sen Const Lloyd said the program had been hugely successful in targeting the culturally and linguistically diverse members of Greater Shepparton. “Who would have thought a copper is going to go fishing within their role – I think fishing has been the best barrier breaker of all, it’s a common language across the world really,” he said.
“And we have men from all cultures come to it and they just love it, they have an absolute ball and we show them spots to fish in the river and channels.” Ldg Sen Const Lloyd and Multicultural Liason Officer Matt Walker also co-ordinate lifesaving programs for newly arrived communities, and help other community programs such as women’s health days and ladies only swimming days at Aqaumoves.
Ldg Sen Const Lloyd said his position also involved making sure members of newly arrived communities understood local laws, including family violence, road and criminal laws, and were aware of role police played. “Going back a few years ago serving some of the family violence intervention orders I sort of put myself in their country, if that was given to me where do I go, I don’t understand this,” he said.
“I guess that’s where it came about how do you help these people, how do you help them understand our lives?” Hearing the stories of these new arrivals is something Ldg Sen Const Lloyd said he would never forget, with many experiencing extreme turmoil and uncertainty to get to Australia.
Talking to them about their pasts was something he said helped break down the barrier between police and the community, noticing these new arrivals began to trust him and open up about their lives the more they engaged. “You hear the stories from their country to the refugee camps to here and you can actually see them start to trust you and talk to you about different things and they’re willing to open up,” Ldg Sen Const Lloyd said.
“A lot of people are skeptical that there are people that can help them, but in time once you spend some time with them, you can see they trust you.”
