New police sergeant settling in to Gayndah

Sergeant Don Auld has been in the job for three weeks. Here’s his impressions of his new home.

NEW COP ON THE BEAT: Gayndah Police Station's new sergeant, Don Auld. Photo: Alex Treacy

GAYNDAH Police Station’s new sergeant is a career policeman.

He’s been doing it for just shy of three decades.

For sergeant Don Auld, who spent 11 years at Ingham and 15 at Palm Island before his new posting, nothing beats country policing.

“Cities aren’t fun,” he said.

“Country people are nicer to talk to and on the whole more respectful. And that goes both ways.”

While he has grown to love policing, Sgt Auld said there was no especial reason he got into the profession.

“Your options are limited in Ipswich,” he joked.

Sgt Auld is a family man – his wife, a schoolteacher, lives in Bundaberg, while his two children are still in Ingham.

“We’ll make it work,” he said.

When not on the beat, you can expect to see Sgt Auld at Claude Wharton Weird with his kayak, which he paddles for fitness.

“Hopefully I’ll be on the water and not under it,” he said.

Asked whether he has any great stories from on the job, Sgt Auld kept his cards close to his chest.

“All police stories are the same,” he said.

“I’ve got some naked criminal stories, I’ve got some dumbass stupid criminal stories … I just expect people to do the right thing.

“I’ve got no real philosophy, I like to work, I don’t like to sit on my hands.”

Sgt Auld described it as a “baptism of fire” adjusting to the high levels of illicit drug use in Gayndah.

“All I can offer is to do our best, getting rid of drugs takes the whole community to fix, not just three police officers,” he said.

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