Ceremonies MASTER OF
He’s spent 34 years walking the halls of the Victoria Police Academy, working away in its classrooms and marching across its hallowed grounds, but Sergeant Jonathan Payne has no intention of making a late career change anytime soon. As Victoria Police’s longest-serving drill instructor, Sgt Payne has seen more than 20,000 people arrive at the Academy as bright-eyed recruits and leave as newly minted officers. Since becoming an Operational Safety and Tactics Training (OSTT) instructor in 1984, he’s led many of them through lessons in tactical communications, firearm use and unarmed combat, to name a few. “OSTT instructors do the whole gamut,” Sgt Payne said. “In my role as sergeant, I have instructional duties, but I also manage small teams of instructors who do drill and ceremonial work.” Sgt Payne is widely known for his expertise in parade and ceremony, specialising in marching, presentation and event programming.
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POLICE LIFE | WINTER 2021
But it’s in the field of drill, a regimented style of training, where he has reached almost legendary status. It is a formative part of every officer’s experience at the Victoria Police Academy — including Sgt Payne’s. “After working general duties for the first eight years of my career, I was looking for a change,” he said. “I looked back on the things I enjoyed most during my time with the force and realised that being a recruit in the training environment stood out. I was really interested in how I was taught and influenced at the time. “So, I came back to the Academy.” It’s clear that Sgt Payne has always had, and always will have, a passion for the field of education. It’s the diverse nature of the role that keeps him in the job all these years later, along with the sense of pride that comes with being a part of the Victoria Police community. “Every day is different. It’s fantastic,” Sgt Payne said. “But what I really love about the work is seeing students go through the Academy from start to finish and supporting them along the way.”
Sgt Payne’s commitment to helping recruits is one of the main reasons he was awarded with an Australian Police Medal (APM) in January this year. The 2021 Australia Day Honours recognised Sgt Payne for his dedication to the Victoria Police Academy and exemplary service in the field of operational safety. His contribution to Victoria Police's People Development Command is unrivalled in the eyes of many fellow instructors, but particularly former students. This became evident after Sgt Payne was awarded with the APM, when he received emails of congratulations from an incredible number of current officers and police veterans scattered across Australia. He’s the first drill sergeant at Victoria Police to receive the prestigious honour, but Sgt Payne remains adamant that the APM is a reflection on the Academy as a whole. “I see it as an endorsement of what we do here. It’s really about the influence that training has on recruits,” Sgt Payne said. “I’ve had fantastic mentors since I first started in the job too, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t had the opportunity to work with those people.”
