Margie Maccoll
A week into the job and Noosa’s new officer in charge senior sergeant Anthony Cowan is “loving it already”.
Born and bred in Mackay Snr Sgt Cowan has served all but two of his 21 years in the police force in Mackay, the remaining two years he spent in Mt Isa.
Six months ago former Noosa OIC Snr Sgt Ben Carroll moved to Rockhampton after five years in Noosa, accepting a promotion to Inspector and a shift to Rockhampton.
Snr Sgt Cowan held the role of senior sergeant in Mackay in charge of a station on the northern beaches of Mackay. Taking charge at Noosa places him in a similar role with a similar population but a larger station with 36 officers compared to 25 in Mackay.
With a brother living on the Sunshine Coast it was family that attracted Snr Sgt Cowan, with his wife and two children, to Noosa, a place he had never visited before taking up his position.
Family is a priority for the officer who was awarded the position a couple of months ago but remained in Mackay to see out the school year for his children before arriving.
It was also family that made him choose to return to a uniformed officer after eight years as a detective.
“I’ve investigated a couple of homicides. Being a detective is good but it’s consuming,” he said.
“You can”t be a detective and have a family. There’s stuff going on 24 hours a day and the usual holidays.”
Snr Sgt Cowan is not a total stranger to the Sunshine Coast, having previously visited Maroochydore and Caloundra but Noosa is new to him and he is keen to explore the shire and what it has to offer and that includes surfing.
A weight boarder and snow boarder surfing is definitely on his to do list.
When it comes to police work Snr Sgt Cowan says Noosa has a great station with “a really high morale” and a crime rate that is relatively low.
“In other places you can pick your criminals. In Noosa the cost of housing and living pushed a lot of people out,” he said.
Much of the crime such as break and enters and car thefts is committed by people outside the area, he said.
Just last week, for example, there was a car theft about 3am one morning. An underaged, unlicensed driver of a stolen car rammed a police car in Hastings Street before taking off toward Halse Lodge and ending up over a cliff into a creek. The 15-year-old driver from outside the shire was apprehended by police and the police car towed away.
Apart from theft, domestic violence is an issue in the senior sergeant’s sights and he has some initiatives to bring to Noosa from Mackay to deal with what is a universal problem.
“Everywhere’s got a problem with DV, that’s society,” he said. “We’ll do a lot of work to try and change things,” he said.
One of his plans is to introduce technology to enable statements to be taken on the scene of the incident in order to speed up the investigation.
Keeping Hasting Street a safe place is also a priority and this New Year’s Eve, a busy time for Hastings Street, Snr Sgt Cowan will be with his crew on the street.
“I enjoy getting out. I’m not much of a desk person,” he said.
