Last Wednesday our guest speaker was Detective Senior Sergeant, Mark Guthrie, of the Geelong CIU. Mark informed the members that he is part of the Victorian Police and Rotary Mentoring Program. His mentor is Rotarian Peter Codd, from our Club.

 

Mark provided a little background about himself, having grown up in Lara. He attended what was then known as Corio Technical School, in Corio. He went into the Police force as a twenty year old person and started his career at Werribee after his initial training. He had a number of postings across the western suburbs of Melbourne, and was stationed at Melton prior to his appointment to the Geelong station which is part of the Western Region Division 1.

Mark provided an honest an open assessment of his career to date, providing examples of some of the difficulties of the job on police individuals, community and the impact of the crimes committed on the perpetrators and the people who are affected.

He indicated that in the Geelong area, surprisingly, the main criminal activity is undertaken by young teenagers. They are generally disengaged from school, and from a dysfunctional home life.

 

Victoria Police in Leaders Mentoring Progam 

Victoria Police Leaders Mentoring Program Overview Victoria Police, in association with Rotary International and the Victorian business community have established a successful partnership to deliver the VPLMP for police members who are considered to be leaders within their field and have potential for more senior roles in the future. The VPLMP is a structured 12 month development opportunity that partners a police member with either a business or a Rotary mentor. The key focus is to develop the longer-term career potential of Police members while providing benefit to Victoria Police through an increased understanding of strategic leadership and community engagement approaches.  We welcome Mark to the club and hope to see more of him in the future.