By Hannah McNamara
Highly respected and treasured police officer, Sergeant Nigel Dalton bids farewell after departing from his role as District Crime Prevention Coordinator.
Mr Dalton has maintained the role of district crime prevention coordinator since 2006 and has left a remarkable imprint on the community over the years. Most known for his educational school talks and local engagement, Mr Dalton is extremely passionate about community safety and will continue his legacy throughout the region, despite no longer wearing the uniform.
“I want to make somebody’s life the best possible life they can have and if I can influence that, even just a little bit, that’s really important,” he said.
Community hero, Sergeant Nigel Dalton steps down from his role as district crime prevention coordinator. Photo Credit: Hannah McNamara
While most join the police force to make the world a better place, Sergeant Nigel Dalton funnily admits that he took the job just over forty years ago so he could continue intense training for his life-long passion of swimming whilst policing on the side.
“We did competitions throughout the whole UK and managed to get to the European championships for police in Vienna, so I had a lovely time just doing what I enjoyed and fitting policing around my swimming,” he chuckles.
“Swimming has been a part of my life for years.”
He had a good family upbringing and said there was nothing in the world to complain about, but soon realised the brutal reality of working within the realm of crime.
“When I joined the police, I thought ‘wow there’s a different side of the world which I hadn’t seen’, I was totally naïve.”
Since moving into crime prevention in 2006, Mr Dalton has developed many presentations and projects for young children through to students in grade 12. He has educated and influenced a multitude of young minds in the community, with a wide array of crucial topics such as cyber safety, bullying, domestic and family violence as well as bicycle and road safety.
“The two major projects that I’ve developed is Choices, which teaches grade 12’s about their last year of school and schoolies to avoid common problems that young people seem to easily fall into.
“The other one is Safety Circus, which is like the younger brother of Choices, teaching young children how to be safe when riding their bicycle and who to report to when something’s not going well, and the third topic of Safety Circus is how to be a good bystander for a victim of bullying.”
Mr Dalton has influenced roughly six thousand students just in schools alone in the Mackay District community.
From a personal point of view, Nigel pinpoints the challenges of being in the police force, like not bringing the job back home after seeing or hearing about things that he describes as “pretty nasty.”
“You need to offload those things at some point otherwise it weighs down your shoulders for too long and that’s something that you learn to do over time,” Mr Dalton said.
“I think another one of the challenges is constantly trying to find a solution to domestic and family violence, as well as general violence in the community.”
Mr Dalton signifies the importance of implementing a police presence in early childhood centres and schools to educate the youth and pave a foundation that influences them positively with a familiar approach.
“One thing that I say to children is, I want you to run to me so I can help, but if you run away from me, we’ll catch up with you some other time and we will have to deal with it then.
“So, I tell them, run to me and not away from me.
“I also add that I can’t run fast these days anyway, and they laugh at that,” he humorously added.
“I want to make somebody’s life the best possible life they can have and if I can influence that, even just a little bit, that’s really important.
“The kindies and preppies are quite interested in the police car and lights as well,” he said.
Touching on the highlights of his career, Mr Dalton finds joy in reuniting with young people who were once troubled and hearing their success stories.
“I’ve seen lots of youngsters who were close to falling off the edge.
“I got to know them, we do a few activities and then we might not see them for a couple of years, but they come up to me at an event and they give me a big hug as they tell me they’re playing sport now or they’ve got a job at the mines etc.
“I just think that is great, that’s the best feeling.”
Mr Dalton says after he departs from policing, he will be working in the community somewhere that focuses on ensuring people get the best out of Mackay. He has no interest in travelling around Australia whatsoever and says dragging around a caravan is “just not my thing,” however, he is looking forward to spending time with his beautiful family…and most likely continuing his profound passion of swimming.
Top cop took home the win for Citizen of The Year at Mackay Regional Council’s Australia Day Awards in 2023
Sergeant Nigel Dalton won a bronze award – in the Customer Focus category for the Queensland Police Service 2018 Awards for Excellence. Image sourced from Queensland Police News
Award-winning duo Sergeant Nigel Dalton and Gerri Kissner with Amanda Camm, leading the charge in keeping the community safe (2023). Image Supplied
