Southbank welcomes Snr Sgt O’Toole

By Sean Car

Southbank Police Station’s new station commander Snr Sgt Alex O’Toole knows our local area as well as anyone.

A policewoman of 19 years, Snr Sgt O’Toole most recently served at neighbouring South Melbourne Police Station for over 10 years and knows just how diverse our local community is.

Having begun her career in Frankston before moving west to Footscray and specialising in criminal investigations, her mixture of experience and knowledge makes her an incredible mentor and leader for the team here in Southbank.

“It’s a very diverse area,” she said. “There’s a lot of businesses here, there’s industrial areas, there’s also residential areas and there is a difference between the socio-economic level of people.”

“There are those that have obviously got a lot of money and there are a lot of people that are in housing commission and we deal with all of those people on a daily basis so we have to have the knowledge to be able to deal with the demographics of our area.”

Snr Sgt O’Toole replaces former Southbank Police Station (formerly St Kilda Road Police Station) commander Steve Bills, who served in the role for the past seven years.

Given the large number of events in the area, Snr Sgt O’Toole said she looked forward to working with major stakeholders such as Crown Casino via the Southbank Safety and Security Committee to improve public safety.

One of the biggest headaches for local police continues to relate to thefts from apartment buildings and multi-level car parks. Whether due to leaving valuables on show inside their cars, leaving storage cages unsecured or not reporting tailgating, Snr Sgt O’Toole said there was many simple things locals could do to prevent such crimes.

Much like her predecessor, she told Southbank Local News she would be continuing to prioritise awareness around theft in the local area by encouraging vigilance among local residents and businesses.

With a passion for helping people and serving communities, she said she was excited to work with her new team and build new relationships within the Southbank community.

“To serve the community and you do take pride in that in the ability to help people in need is what I love about my job,” she said. “They always come to us with a problem and hopefully we can solve that or get a good result for them so they can get some closure.”

“They’ve (Southbank Police) been very welcoming and I look forward to having a great relationship with all of my work colleagues and also the community that I’m going to be working for.”

For any issues relating to local safety and security Snr Sgt O’Toole can be contacted via email on [email protected]. She will also resume the bimonthly Safety and Security column in the March edition of Southbank Local News.