Police
Inverloch welcomes a new police sergeant with a familiar name

... locals say there's always work to be done!

THAT’S pretty amazing! The Bass Coast Police Service Area Facebook page ‘Eyewatch’ has alerted the Inverloch and district community to a very interesting piece of information about family connections at the Inverloch Police Station.

The news has been very well received locally, but among the responses, concerns have been expressed about the state of the ‘police’ sign depicted in the photo.

First things first, and the Eyewatch post is celebrating the appointment of a new officer in charge at Inverloch, but not just anyone!

Eagle-eyed locals have pointed to the need for a timely bit of maintenance on the Inverloch Police sign.

Here’s the Eyewatch post:

“A little bit of history is repeating at the moment with a police officer named Ronald W. J. PURTLE being the officer in charge of the Inverloch Police Station for the second time.

“The first time was in 1973, when Senior Constable PURTLE 9992 was the officer in charge, a role that he did until 1977.

“The second time is now, with his grandson, Acting Sergeant PURTLE 41548, currently in the role.

“The first Ronald W. J. PURTLE joined the police force in the 1930s, and did duties in various areas, including in the then ‘Wireless Patrol’ in Melbourne, which was the first mobile police patrol in the world to use radios.

“He also used to ride a Triumph motorcycle with a sidecar along the Geelong Road doing traffic patrols.  A career in community and rural policing beckoned, going on to do duties at one-man police stations at Romsey and Maldon, and then working at the then one-man police station at Inverloch where he lived in the adjoining police house with his family until he retired in 1977.

“The second Ronald W. J. PURTLE joined the police force in 2015, and has worked at the 24-hour police stations in Traralgon and Wonthaggi.  Acting Sergeant PURTLE 41548 said that although the location of the police station in Inverloch remains the same, the building is much newer now, and the type of work that he is doing has certainly changed since the time his grandfather was there, which was many years before he was born!”

The response to the post have all been very positive:

  • I remember Sargeant Purtle. I went to school with his daughter and we became friends. I remember going to their home to watch their brand-new colour tv, one of the first in Inverloch.
  • Congratulations Ronald. What a wonderful story!!
  • Awesome story. Big boots to fill. All the best young fella.
  • I remember his grandfather very well.  Lovely man. Many enjoyable times at the police house with the family. Congratulations Ron.
  • Awesome, Ronald! Now maybe we will have a bit more law and order down Inverloch way. Congratulations mate Cheers.
  • What a terrific family connection.

And, also this from an Inverloch builder about the rusted ‘police’ sign above his head in the photo:

  • Maintenance alert. If that police sign isn’t fixed soon, it may fall off onto someone’s head, like a child walking home from school. Just saying.

The work of a country cop, especially one in charge of a local police station, is never done, it seems!

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