Dave shares his incredible journey from general duties policing, to detective, to Tactical Flight Officer in Airwing.
Video transcript
My name’s Dave Hatherly, I’m a Tactical Flight Officer at the Victoria Police Air Wing.
Graduated from the Academy in 2010. I did general duties in the city and then out at Wyndham for three to four years, and then started down the investigator pathway and got a detective spot at Darebin, which is where I spent seven years before arriving at the Air Wing.
One of the main things that I really love about the work is just the varied nature in your day to day.
You could find yourself on top of a mountain in the high country, working with other specialist squads, such as search and rescue.
Tracking a criminal that's on the run. You have members that have come from varied roles within Victoria Police and they all bring that varied experience and background.
I really love the amount of training that's involved and also getting to work with a really good bunch of people.
It just makes a massive difference to have really good team-mates to work with, and that no matter what job we're going out to, you can be confident in one another that we're going to get that job done.
The most important thing about being a good police officer is that you're working with human beings potentially, on the worst days of their life.
So it's really important to have that personal connection, I suppose, and to remember just to treat others the same way that you would like to be treated. And to not forget that, and not forget where you've come from.
For me personally, I really love the search and rescue aspect of it (the job).
When you get a rescue survivor out of a really tricky spot, into the cabin, you see that relief on their face and on the faces of the family.
That's a massive sense of accomplishment and it gives me the feeling that you've really helped someone.
What I would say to someone who's thinking about joining Victoria Police is, give it a go.
Do the best that you can and see what happens.
If you've got that life experience, or that other work experience, bring it to Victoria Police, and see how that sets you up for a career within Victoria Police.
Become a police officer
Are you made for more? No two days are the same when you become a police officer.
Specialist roles and areas
Learn more about Airwing, along with other specialist roles and areas for police officers.
Updated