LEADING Senior Constable George Crawford didn't intend to be event planning when he started working as the Station Commander at the Jamieson Police Station.
However, while doing an annual training exercise, he noticed that there was an appetite from the community to learn more about the various arms of emergency services.
"We realised that we've got to do some public education around [our training]," he said.
"People are curious what capabilities we've got in the alpine area considering we are at the foothills of the mountains."
This sparked the first emergency services expo in 2019 held in Mansfield.
"We had over 500 members of the public come through and it ended up being nominated for one of the Australia Day Awards, which was fantastic," he said.
"Coincidentally, it had really strong focus on fire preparation and we had it in October 2019 right before the 2019/20 fires, which were one of the most significant emergency events we've had in Victoria in some time.
"The timing to get messaging out was fantastic."
The success of the event was felt by all in the community, with many asking LSC Crawford to organise the event again.
After COVID–19 induced restrictions were lifted, he felt the need to do it another time.
"There was less engagement with the public and it's very hard to get some of these messages out so I was kind of looking forward to doing another one," he said.
This year's event in Jamieson promises to be one not to miss, with over 20 exhibitors from all over the state showcasing the work they do and important information for the public.
There will be educational presentations from St Johns First Aid, Ambulance Victoria and Wildlife Victoria culminating in an interagency car rescue.
"We will narrate and educate people on some of the processes that happen behind the scenes," LSC Crawford said.
He explained that events like this are essential for emergency services both internally and externally as they deal with increasingly complex situations.
"The networking for emergency services, both locally and state–wide, is really beneficial at these types of things," Constable Crawford said.
"It helps with future events by knowing who who's who and how people work together.
"It allows us to know what resources to actually ask for in the event of an emergency.
"It also acts as a bit of a team building exercise.
"Within an agency you work alongside your colleagues quite regularly but when [you work] interagency we sometimes need to make efforts like this, where we get together and build those external bonds."
The event promises to be fun for one and all with plenty of activities designed for people of all ages.
