Inspector Michael Johnston is now officially ensconced as head of the Tasmania Police Central North Division, based at the impressive new headquarters in Longford.
Officially accepting the position in December last year, the long-serving law enforcer first needed to get some annual leave and a hip replacement out of the way before settling into the seat of outgoing Inspector Scott Flude who retired last month.
Covering the entire Northern Midlands municipality and most of the Meander Valley, it’s a huge beat, but one the copper of 38 years reckons deserves a good report card.
He said there’s no major issues, no disturbing trends, although the huge number of vehicle movements on highways and secondary roads through the region has him concentrating on road safety.
“I attended the Evandale Neighbourhood Watch meetings and there’s some ongoing, often farm-based theft and minor crimes to deal with,” he said.
“Reflecting the rest of society there’s an element of drug-related offences and vandalism, but overall I’m lucky to be here and it’s certainly the first time I’ve worked in a new police station.”
Under his command are 19 constables, three sergeants, and two state service employees, working from the state-of-the-art facility which boasts the latest security features, holding cell, critical incident room, training facilities and garaging for all manner of Police transport from cars, 4WDs and motorcycles to wagons, boats and four-wheel motorbikes.
Inspector Johnston’s last position was in St Helens, where he was stationed for more than five years.
All up he’s been policing, mainly in the north of the State, for just over 38 years.
“I’ve been in operations jobs my whole career, which at times has meant a lot of work behind the desk and with community groups, but I like being hands on rather than get involved in the policy-making side of things,” he said.
“This is my seventh position as an inspector, but I’ve been lucky to have experienced a wide range of duties as a police officer.”
In fact it was the recruiting campaign of the 1980s, where Tas Police was promising “One career – 101 jobs” that appealed to a young man who grew up in Mowbray, Launceston, and seemed to have serving his community at front of mind.
“I’d joined the Royal Australian Air Force straight out of school but as soon as I was accepted to join the Police Academy in 1985, I started my training,” he said.
“I liked the idea of variety and that’s certainly what has been delivered.”
He said there was no family pressure or tradition to follow in joining the Police Force, the only connection he could think of was that his great grandfather was the last trooper at Lefroy and that his great aunt was born on the desk of a country police station!
After graduating from the Academy Insp. Johnston worked in uniform, traffic, licencing, drug squad and CIB as a constable, sergeant, and inspector as he moved through the ranks.
He said they were all good jobs, each one having its good points and bad points, but each suiting the stage of life that he was experiencing.
“In traffic I loved the fact that I had a brand new motorbike to ride,” he admitted.
“In the drug squad I had a young family and it felt good to know I was helping take poison off the street.
“But what people don’t realise is that it’s the general duties that can be the most dangerous because it’s unpredictable.
“You don’t have the months of careful planning behind you – when you show up at a domestic violence case for instance, anything could happen and it all comes down to the occupants’ behaviour.”
One of the biggest cases he’s been involved with was the murder of tourist Victoria Cafasso. At the time he was in the drug squad and spent nearly 10 weeks working on the early stages of the investigation.
He said he thinks most about the murder cases that he wasn’t able to clear up, even those that were solved much later by the cold case unit.
“That and the fatal car accidents in the early years when the protocols were not in place to deal with the trauma,” he said.
“We now deal with mental health in a far more appropriate way and it’s all about looking after our people,” he said.
“It’s the biggest priority that we have.”
At the lighter end of the scale is the odd funny scenario, like the time when he was working in traffic and he and his partner were sent to check out a lady’s bedroom where she said there was a snake under the bed.
“We couldn’t find anything and when we spotted an empty packet of sedatives on the bedside table we gave each other a knowing look and left,” he said.
“She rang us 15 minutes later to tell us she had found the culprit. Having left the window open because of the heat there were bugs coming inside so she sprayed them and put the spraycan under the bed.
“Every time she rolled over in bed she was pushing on the plunger and releasing the fly spray and she though it was a snake hissing.”
To unwind the father of two spends as much time as he can on a golf course, taking part when available, in the National Police Golf Championships.
He also gives plenty of attention to two spoiled cocker spaniels, Tilly and Milo, who he says keeps both he and his wife entertained.
Their son is a radio journalist in Deniliquin and their daughter works in banking in Launceston.
Insp. Johnston said that one of the great things about modern policing is not only the more comfortable and practical uniform, but the ability to train in either Launceston or Hobart and fit it around family life.
In his current role a typical day in the office would involve responding to emails, reading incident sheets, talking to staff, doing some investigative work on a stolen car or similar and preparing multiple permits for major community events such as racing at Symmons Plains, Agfest and Anzac Day parades.
An added responsibility is a ministerial appointment as deputy regional emergency management controller, where he’s been working on flood evaluation triggers for Launceston.
“I enjoy what I do and even though I am getting close to retirement age I still love getting up and coming to work every day,” he said.
“I believe in what we do for the community and quite frankly, while I still think that way I can’t imagine ever retiring.”
