THE Central West Police District will soon have a new commander walking the beat and this boy from the bush is looking forward to getting started.
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Superintendent Steve Kentwell has been in policing for decades and will commence duties in the district on Friday, February 14.
"I've been a police officer since I was 19, I joined the Redfern academy so I'm in my 37th year in the job," he said.
I'm a country boy at heart and I'm looking forward to getting back to the bush and enjoying the lifestyle as well.
- NSW Police Superintendent Steve Kentwell
"I've done a lot of Sydney deployment and I was out at Dubbo for about five years and the last 15 or 16 years here on the [Central] Coast."
Most recently he was based in Wyong, which is part of the Tuggerah Lakes Police District, and before that he was based at the Brisbane Waters command.
He began his career walking the beat in Redfern in the heart of Sydney and he stayed there for the first nine years in the job.
Since then he's worked in the Operational Support Group with bomb management during the Sydney Olympics and has also done plain clothes work.
During the past 14 years Supt Kentwell has held a relieving Commander position for three-four years and said he was looking forward to a permanent spot.
"It'd be good to have my own command and have the ability to take it in the direction that I have a vision for and improve crime out there in the area and improving the morale and the culture of the organisation," he said.
"That's something big for me, that people actually enjoy coming to work and enjoy what they're doing.
"It makes a huge difference because if the morale's good then people aren't off sick and then if they're not off sick the capability to respond to crime is increased."
Supt Kentwell said being stationed at Orange in the Central West Police District feels like coming full circle for him.
He grew up in Warren and said he looked forward to spending the last few years of his career "out there in the bush".
"I'm a country boy at heart and I'm looking forward to getting back to the bush and enjoying the lifestyle as well," he said.
Supt Kentwell said policing in the country is very different to metropolitan areas.
"I think everyone should probably try country policing at some point because it's different," he said.
"You've got to have pretty good communication in the country as opposed to Sydney where you're not living in the communities as such, but out there everyone knows who most people are."
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