Senior Sergeant James Bradley has taken over at Cockburn police station.
Camera IconSenior Sergeant James Bradley has taken over at Cockburn police station. Credit: Supplied/Will Russell        www.communitypix.com.au d444335

Meet our new top cop: Cockburn

Bryce LuffFremantle Gazette

Senior Sergeant James Bradley took over the hot seat from Brett Reyne two weeks ago and said he was keen to get to work tackling the area’s crime issues.

Sgt Bradley comes with a wealth of experience, having joined the police force in 1988.

Most of his career has been spent as a detective, with the move to Cockburn following a four-year stint with the Major Crime Squad.

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Living locally, he knows the area well. He has also spent time working from the Murdoch police station and his current base on Rockingham Road, although that was back in 1992.

“I’d been a detective for almost two decades so when an opportunity presented itself to be an OIC of a police station, that was certainly something I couldn’t pass up,” he said.

“This was an opportunity to diversify my skills because I haven’t done any sort of uniform police work for a long time.

“Having come from a very heavy detective background, another real positive I see is sharing my skills and knowledge with the team here.

“I’m highly driven and focused on what we need to be doing and I want to make sure that everyone in the Cockburn police station is enthusiastic and community focused as well as crime focused.”

Sgt Bradley has been in the role for two weeks and said it had not taken long for him to identify areas that require attention.

Burglary numbers in Hamilton Hill and Success have flared and, with summer close by, car thefts are sure to rise.

“A couple of our high crime areas are Hamilton Hill and Success, so there will be some focus there in the short term, as opposed to a long-term strategy,” Sgt Bradley said.

“Coming into the summer months there’s going to be a real focus on beachfront carparks, stealing from cars, and also just burglaries.”

He is also keen for his team to engage with the community, a luxury afforded to them through the local policing team model, which last month ticked past one year of operation.