By Parker McKenzie
The newly-appointed Eastern Region Police Assistant Commissioner and Commander have flagged their intention to tackle youth crime and recidivism in the Yarra Ranges.
Assistant Commissioner Tony Langdon said the process of putting youth through the justice system isn’t the answer to resolving criminality for a lot of youth offenders.
“Youth and drugs are one of the pieces that I want to actually concentrate on not only in the Yarra Ranges but throughout the region,” he said.
“That’s the whole idea about neighbourhood policing. It’s not so much about what police want to initiate, it’s what we initiate with the community.”
Assistant Commissioner Langdon commenced his role with the Eastern Region in October 2021, with his primary role being to provide effective policing service to improve community safety. He joined Victoria Police in 1980 and has served as a detective in crime, homicide and armed robbery divisions.
He highlighted his experience working around Flemington connecting with the African Australian community as a highlight of his career so far.
“I was actually one of the main architects for the inaugural Flemington Kokoda program for the youth down there, which lasted for an extended period of time before it was taken over by another superintendent,” he said.
“My last three to five years I was the commander at Southern Metro Region, working out of Dandenong and running operations.”
Eastern Region Commander Karen Nyholm said she would like the police to formalise more engagement with schools to help reduce youth offending.
“For schools engagement, we’re not going to be in schools every day running programs,” she said.
“What we’ll do is work with the local Department of Health and come in and work with you.”
Commander Nyholm was appointed to Eastern Region in November 2021. She has previously worked in major fraud investigations, court prosecutions, coronial support, education and media communications for Victoria Police.
She said her greatest passion was within the legal services area.
“I worked as a prosecutor for many years and one stint there was actually for a couple of years at the Coroner’s Court,” Commander Nyholm said.
“I worked as a coroner’s assistant and that role actually had many components to it. One part of it took me on many occasions into regional areas, where I had the unfortunate task of investigating aircraft crashes.”
Commander Nyholm also has experience in emergency management during the East Gippsland bushfires in February 2021 and in a role leading the State Police Operations Centre for the Covid-19 response.
Assistant Commissioner Langdon said the Yarra Ranges is a close-knit community with emergency management issues, which Victoria Police is acting to prepare for.
“In preparation for this summer, we went through a training phase and we go through assurance programs to say that VicPol is prepared.” he said.
