Wyndham has a new top cop, with Frank Sells replacing Damien Christensen as the municipality’s inspector on Monday.
Inspector Sells, a police officer for 24 years, most recently worked as the north-west metropolitan region’s road policing inspector.
Inspector Sells said he was looking forward to the job and believed community engagement would be one of his top priorities.
“This area is no different to any other area in the region; community safety is the number one priority,” he said. “There’s a real need for us to make sure people are engaged with us.”
Inspector Sells said he was aware of the challenges presented by Wyndham’s rapid population growth and would focus on reducing crime and tackling public and traffic offences, as well as family violence.
“Family violence is a challenge for the whole organisation. I will need service providers to work with me to address it,” he said.
Inspector Christensen, who showed Inspector Sells around Wyndham last week, took over as the city’s top cop two years ago after working in Wyndham on three previous occasions in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“It’s a great place to work. It’s a busy area and a rapidly growing municipality,” Inspector Christensen said.
Inspector Christensen said he had worked hard during his time in Wyndham to build a network and tackle the city’s crime issues by engaging with other services and organisations, including the council. “It’s not just about police policing; it takes a lot of support from other organisations to work in this area,” he said.
Inspector Christensen will take over as the region’s road policing inspector and will be based in Melbourne.
