AFTER only 15 months in the top job, Cootamundra Local Area Commander Maria Rustja is leaving the region to take on a position heading the Joint Investigative Response Squad in Sydney which focuses on child sexual abuse.
Her time in Cootamundra has been dotted with highlights including a reduction in most crime categories across the command, a focus on increased interaction between Police and the community and the launch of many successful initiatives including Volunteers in Policing and the Blue Light Disco.
“Crime rates are very good, our Police are very proactive and it is because of this that we are able to keep crime levels down,” Superintendent Rustja said.
She told the Herald yesterday she was sad to be leaving and had expected to continue her role with the Cootamundra Local Area Command for at least another year.
She had bought a house within the command and her six-year-old daughter Lara attended school near their home.
The transfer to the NSW Police Crime Command in Parramatta comes after Superintendent Rustja received a call from Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas requesting she take on the role.
Having previously worked in the area of child protection during her decorated Police career, Superintendent Rustja said, while sad to leave, she is looking forward to taking on a new challenge and making inroads into the all-to-common crime of sexual assault against children.
The squad has 22 centres across NSW, with Superintendent Rustja to oversee all of the officers who form these centres.
“The job that I am going to is one that I really believe in,” she said.
“I do believe in the protection of children,” she said.
Her time with the Cootamundra LAC has been the first time since she was a young constable on the north coast of NSW that Superintendent Rustja has worked in a regional command.
“I’ve learnt a lot while I’ve been here,” Superintendent Rustja said, adding that the major difference between being a police officer in a regional command and working in a metropolitan command is the people.
“There is a real sense of community spirit in every one of our towns, when something happens everyone is affected by it and people really band together for the good things and the bad
things.”
She said when she walks down the street in any one of the towns within the command she is greeted with a smile and often a hello by everyone from young people to their parents to pensioners to people who she has come across in the line of duty.
When Superintendent Rustja leaves in October, Cootamundra Crime Manager detective inspector Dean Smith will fill the commander position until a permanent replacement can be found.
Superintendent Rustja said she anticipates it will only be a couple of months until a permanent commander can be found.
She said it is likely the new Cootamundra Local Area Commander will be promoted into the role.
While in the district, Superintendent Rustja has been involved in a number of community efforts.
She has been a strong advocate for the establishment of an oncology facility in Cootamundra, sharing her own experience as a breast cancer survivor at the oncology committee’s Ride to Help.
Superintendent Rustja has also delivered talks at a number of service organisation functions during her tenure as commander, including speaking to the ladies in Wallendbeen and being a guest speaker at a Rotary function in Young.
She will spend her remaining weeks within the command tying up loose ends and compiling a comprehensive ‘handover’ for her replacement, detailing everything from the level of crime and future directions of the command
to finance and human resources
levels.
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