The Night Watch: Mooroolbark policeman Senior Constable Andrew Clapham on nightshift
Life as a police officer can be unpredictable at the best of times. But for this Yarra Valley cop, a rise in drug and alcohol abuse means things can get even more dicey at night, when people turn from your best friend to worst enemy in an instant.
Outer East
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For Yarra Valley cop Andrew Clapham, life on the beat even in the rural Yarra Valley is unpredictable at the best of times.
And things can get even more dicey when the sun sets.
“You never know what you’re going to face – especially at night,” he says.
Sen-Constable Clapham has spent a decade in the force. For four of those years he has been based at Mooroolbark — one of only three stations in 2500sq km of the Yarra Ranges to have police working night shift.
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With such a vast expanse of rural area to cover — from Kilsyth to way out past Powelltown — patrolling and responding to call-outs can be potentially dangerous.
“If you’re out in Three Bridges, the next back up is Lilydale and that’s 40 minutes away,” he said.
“You have to be careful and cautious.”
Sen-Constable Clapham said there had been an increase in people arming themselves with knives, homemade guns, or especially in rural areas firearms stolen from farms.
“We’re always worried someone is carrying a weapon nowadays, especially when on ice,” he said.
“We’re also cautious of people now injecting ice and they put uncut syringes in their pockets, which is a big risk for police if there is a confrontation you could be stabbed.”
Sen-Constable Clapham said methamphetamine use meant police are always careful to make sure they’re prepared for anything.
He said he believed 80 per cent of mental health or threats to kill arrests were caused by alcohol and drug induced psychosis.
“Everyone is carrying knives these days, even kids, so when you throw in a combo of ice and knives it get scary,” he said.
Sen-Constable Clapham said drugs were linked to a lot of night time call outs were where people acting strange often at places like 24-hour Kmarts, McDonald’s or petrol stations.
He said alcohol was also an issue, with one of his most memorable incidents at night involving a man who went from offering police a drink to chasing them from the house with a chainsaw.
“People can go from being your best friend and then a switch goes off in their brain and they turn,” he told the Leader.
“I was attacked in Echuca by a guy who was five foot six (170cm) and I’m over six foot, turn on me while I was trying to hold him down.
“Ice fills them full of strength and makes them unpredictable so you never know what they’ll do.
“I wish I could say there was an end in sight but I can’t.”
But despite the danger, Sen-Constable Clapham said he still loved being in the force.
“It’s a weird and wonderful job,” he said.
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