Inspector Phelan started in the role in November, and oversees the Horsham Rural City, Hindmarsh and West Wimmera municipalities.

Previously, Inspector Phelan worked in Portland as a senior sergeant.

He said his new role was not his first time working in the Wimmera; he worked as a constable in Stawell in the 1990s. 

“I moved to Port Fairy and was in charge down there, then I returned to Stawell several years later as a detective in charge of the Criminal Investigation Unit,” he said. 

Inspector Phelan left Victoria Police in 2005 and moved to Rockhampton, Queensland, and took on a role as a manager in charge of the Department of Child Safety for two years.

He then moved to Hobart, Tasmania as an area manager with the Children and Family Services division for a year.

He said he took a two-year sabbatical from public service after working in Hobart, and moved to Portland to manage a caravan park. 

“I rejoined Victoria Police in 2010. I secured a spot back at Portland,” he said.

“I came back in as a senior constable after leaving as a detective. I had to work the van again. It was quite humbling to get back and see what the front line did.

Inspector Phelan moved up the ranks and, after a stint in Hamilton, he found himself in Warrnambool where he was made a detective in the Sex Offence and Child Investigation Team for a year.

He said it was a natural progression to move into the inspector role after his four years at Portland. 

“Being a police officer sort of runs in the family, my grandfather was a policeman for a short period of time,” he said. 

“My father was a policeman for 34 years and one of my older brothers was a policeman too.” 

Inspector Phelan said targeting drug crimes was a major goal during his tenure in the Wimmera.

He said drug activity was a problem across the state. 

“We really need to work in partnership with the community to get them on board to have confidence in their local police to disrupt the trafficking into our local towns,” he said.

Inspector Phelan said community members who did not want to report suspicious activity to the police directly could report the information to Crime Stoppers. He said every bit of information counted. 

Inspector Phelan said another goal in his role was building community partnerships. 

“It’s about us being proud enough to say we can’t solve it all ourselves – we have to form partnerships to tackle the emerging issues as they arise,” he said. 

“It’s important to me that the community trusts their police. If there are issues, we work through them together to solve them.”