The Show Radio team had the pleasure of interviewing Superintendent David Johnson today as part of the Afternoon Show.
Supt Johnson is the Burwood Area Police Commander and has been extending his watchful eye over the Royal Easter Show for the last seven years. Johnson has a 33 year-long career in the NSW Police Force and recently awarded the Police Medal during the 2019 Australia Day Honours.
After all these years at the Easter Show, Johnson feels a strong connection with the event, and sees it as a wonderful opportunity to build community relations.
Johnson warmly invited the team into his temporary command centre under the Main Arena, and generously gave his time to our AFTRS Radio Students for the interview. During the chat, he revealed his top three policing tips for our show goers.
Supt Johnson’s Top Three Tips:
- Come with a charged phone which is turned on! Johnson said that year-after-year people come with flat, or near-flat mobile phones. If family members become separated from one another, it is difficult to re-connect them if their telephones are flat;
- If you are a parent or adult visiting with kids, write your mobile phone number on a piece of paper and given it to the child to keep in their pocket, this way, police can reconnect you;
- Use the lost person point it you become separated from your group.
In his interview, Johnson reflected on his passion for increasing connections between police and the community – something he has been actively working on in the Burwood Area Command, especially through diversity training and through recruitment of new police officers from diverse backgrounds.
Supt Johnson ended his interview by making a heartfelt request to parents at the show. He asked them to teach their kids to feel comfortable approaching police officers, and to know that they can go to officers for help when they need it most.
