HE HAS only been in the job for four months but the Tweed Byron Police District’s new boss is already buckling down on local issues such as cross border-crime and working to increase community engagement.
Superintendent Dave Roptell said his officers had been successful in catching several offenders after a recent spate of thefts from cars and break-ins in the Kingscliff area.
“The offenders seem to be mostly young people coming from Queensland,” Supt Roptell said.
“We have been able to share information with Qld Police and identify and prosecute offenders.
“We meet with our Qld counterparts and the Federal Police, based at the Gold Coast airport, regularly to maintain our relationship.”
Supt Roptell took over from the much-loved former Superintendent Wayne Starling and shares a similar interest in engaging with the community and taking care of his men and women.
“I plan to build on the foundations Supt Starling has put together and take the district to the next level by consolidating and continuing to maintain community relationships,” he said.
“The welfare of my staff is also a major priority – I am building on the great culture that Supt Starling created.”
Supt Roptell said he is also using his previous experience as head of NSW Police Transport Command to make our roads safer.
“I have developed Operation Titan which will be run once a month,” he said.
“It will have a whole-district focus where we will use our capabilities to really focus on intelligence-driven trouble spots where police will engage and reassure the community that we are out and about, and also to maintain safer roads.
“It will be a whole command effort for two days every month.
“There may be outstanding warrants or DNA or any number of things and it’s a good opportunity to really focus on those areas.”
Supt Roptell said he had “a lot of time and admiration for the police that work in my district”.
“They are very proactive at finding and prosecuting outstanding offenders and keeping the community safe.”
In his 29-year career with the NSW Police Force Supt Roptell has worked in many areas of law enforcement, including providing security to George Bush during the 2007 APEC Summit.
His last role was heading up the NSW Police Force Youth and Crime Prevention Command and Supt Roptell has a keen interest in keeping young people off the streets through programs like Fit for Life which he founded at Mt Druitt.
“I believe in engaging with the community,” he told The Weekly.
“I saw the benefits of that working in Redfern.
“I believe in engaging at-risk youth in a positive way through mentors and the Police Citizens Youth Club (PCYC), all working in partnership to address the vulnerability of some youth.
“The CEO of PCYC, my management team and local community members put it together and we had the Aboriginal community of Mt Druitt on-side.
“We boxed for fitness every Monday morning and set the platform to be rolled out across NSW with the aim of diverting young people from the criminal justice system and enhancing police, community and youth relationships.”
Supt Roptell said he also supported the Police Commissioner’s Rise Up strategy, providing opportunities to get employment through the Fit for Work program.
Supt Roptell loves footy, boxing and the ocean and now lives on the Tweed Coast, an area that has seen a spike in car crimes and break-ins in recent years.
“We have a strong focus on the Kingscliff, Casuarina, Pottsville area crime and operations like Titan will see a strong police presence there,” he said.
Supt Roptell has played rugby league his whole life as lock and hooker in the St George and South Sydney (he’s a Rabbitoh’s man) competitions and played State of Origin in the NSW Police representative side at Burleigh in 1999.
“We won 11-10 in extra time. It was the best game I’ve ever been part of,” he said.
Supt Roptell is inviting community members to join in the Fit for Life program at Tweed Heads PCYC.
“It’s on at 6.30am Monday morning and anyone from the community is welcome to join in.”
Contact the Tweed Heads PCYC for more information on (07) 5599 1714.