Police Volunteers Recognised at Parliament House

1 September 2010 | Hon. Michael Daley MP, Minister for Police & Hon. Peter Primrose MLC, Minister for Volunteering

Minister for Police Michael Daley today congratulated 40 members of the Volunteering in Policing program who were today recognised for their service to the NSW Police Force.

Mr Daley said the longest serving "VIPs" were presented with a 15 year badge to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the program at a ceremony at Parliament House.

"There are almost 470 active volunteers who give their time to the NSW Police Force every week and it was a pleasure to meet 40 of their longest serving members today," he said.

"Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Volunteers in Policing Program, and I fully expect some of our current volunteers to be helping out for another 15 years to come.

"Special thanks go to our longest serving VIPs are Keith New, Kenneth Malmgren, Malcolm Elmslie, Steve Scowcroft and Jacqueline Scowcroft.

"These five volunteers were all involved police volunteers from 1993, prior to the Volunteering in Police program officially inaugurated in 1995.

"The oldest volunteer is Liselotte Brasch of Rose Bay LAC who turned 87 this year. "The youngest Volunteer in Policing is 20 year old Mitchell Brunello from Shoalhaven LAC.

"He has only just been accepted into the program but there are another four 20 year olds who have recently joined the program – which is a great sign for the future," Mr Daley said.

Minister for Volunteering Peter Primrose also attended the anniversary celebrations saying that there were more than 1.7 million formal volunteers in NSW who give more than 241 million hours of voluntary work to our community.

"The NSW Government’s State Plan aims to increase the number of volunteers by 10 per cent by 2016.

"And to achieve this target, we are developing the NSW Volunteering Strategy to promote volunteering to parts of the community who, for many reasons, have lower participation rates," he said.