Martin Kappel has been appointed to the position of senior sergeant at Kyneton Police Station. Across his 34 years in the force, Mr Kappel has collected a number of accolades and gained experience working abroad in Cyprus and Papua New Guinea. His experiences range from stints as sergeant at Coburg and Melton, to work within the area of child sexual abuse, and has also worked spent time at the Australian Federal Police. He spoke with reporter Oliver Lees about his priorities for the region.
What is your connection to Sunbury and the Macedon Ranges?
I have lived in the Macedon Ranges for 18 years. My wife and I have raised two children who went to local primary and secondary schools. Through the kids we have been involved in many local sporting teams, mostly soccer, and I remain quite involved with the Gisborne Soccer Club. I have family connections in Sunbury with my sister and brother-in-law living and raising their four children there.
I understand you first joined the force as a trainee in 1988. How has the role of police in the community changed since that time?
I think our professionalism as an organisation has definitely increased – when I first joined the force, I was the senior member at Broadmeadows two weeks after graduating. Nowadays, new members work under a structured extended training program ensuring they work with more experienced members for at least the first 18 months after graduating. Accountability has also increased exponentially, and rightly so. With the introduction of body worn cameras and the proliferation of smartphones I tell my members to assume that every single thing they do when they walk out the door is being video recorded. We are now much better at looking after our members. Mental health and wellbeing is at the forefront of everything we do.
Are there any past experiences or training you’ve had during your time in the force that will prove particularly useful in your position at Kyneton?
Working as a United Nations (UN) peacekeeper in Cyprus I was stationed in a small village called Pyla. This was the only town situated within the UN controlled buffer zone, and the only bi-communal village in Cyprus. The Greek and Turkish community members had vastly different opinions and perceptions of the history of the conflict. The experience of working here really highlighted to me the importance of having an awareness and consideration of other people’s perspectives and personal journeys when becoming involved in any sort of community issue.
Do you have a sense of certain issues or areas of concern you would like to focus on as sergeant?
Having spent the past seven months as officer in charge at Gisborne Police Station, and having coordinated the Macedon Ranges Community Engagement survey, the two areas that stood out were community concerns relating to crime rates and wanting a more visible police presence out in the community. Senior sergeant Amanda Cohen, who is the new officer in charge at Gisborne, together with new local area commander inspector John Greene and myself, want to focus on providing the highest quality policing service to the Macedon Ranges community that we possibly can.
