It was only right that Campbelltown Constable Jayne McConnachie was the centre of attention last night after being named the 2022 Rotary Macarthur Police Officer of the Year.
Just about everyone in the Wests Leagues auditorium wanted a photo with this simply brilliant but humble police officer.
But while her work with young offenders was compelling, there were a lot of great stories told last night of local police officers going way above and beyond the call of duty.
But there can only be one winner in such awards, and everyone agreed that Constable Jayne McConnachie was a worthy one.
Take this case, for example where a 16 year old girl had money earnt from a casual job stolen by a drug addicted father and then kicked out of home – where she was forced to sleep on a shed floor.
Constable McConnachie worked with agencies and local real estate agents to organise safe accommodation and ongoing support for the teenager.
In another case of a 15 year old boy on the periphery of gang related crime, Constable McConnachie encouraged him through involvement in youth programs and mentoring to make positive choices.
As a result of her intervention, this teenager made a good decision to not take part in the theft of a car with his associates.
Constable McConnachie, who continues to work with this young man to keep him away from being involved in crime, also shared the crime prevention award category last night with Camden officer Senior Constable Kristy Searson.
Const Searson, who is on the Camden domestic violence team, was another high achieving police officer nominated for last night’s awards.
During the past two years her team of four officers have made a huge impact in the domestic violence area.
Their work included 335 arrests and 432 charges against domestic violence offenders.
During this period they have also carried out almost 1500 domestic violence order compliance checks and 477 bail compliance checks on domestic violence offenders.
Last night’s awards, organised by eight Rotary clubs across the Macarthur region, attracted 54 nominations and a stack of dignitaries, from mayors to MPs and senior police.
Officers can be nominated by their colleagues or superiors, while the judging panel, made up of Rotary and senior police representatives, select the category winners and overall winner.
The 2022 winners in the other categories were:
- Constable Matteo Di-Giorno, Camden Police Area Command: probationary constable of the year.
- Senior Constable Ryan Richardson, Campbelltown City Police Area Command: general duties officer of the year
- Tracey Richardson, Campbelltown City Police Area Command executive officer: unsworn officer of the year
- Detective Sergeant Graeme Napier, Campbelltown police Area Command: detective of the year
- Senior Constable Jonathon Wright: highway patrol award.
