Heading up the Central Victorian Crime Scene Services is the best way he can think of to do that.

The team attends the scene of burglaries and other “volume crime” to search for forensic evidence such as fingerprints.

Read more: Victoria Police recruit in Bendigo as part of statewide drive

“We catch more crooks here through our forensics… than what the average police officer would do in the van,” he said.

And when they’ve been robbed, people are always happy to see you.

Sergeant Riddiford said he sees attending crime scenes as a chance to make people feel better about the disruption a crime has caused in their lives

“We’re very big here on customer service,” he said.

“Everybody here’s got a vested interest in the area… and I think that makes a big difference.”

Sergeant Riddiford joined the police force 25 years ago, aged 24.

He’d first tried to join aged 18. He had completed 19 of the 20 weeks training before he hit a hurdle in his personal life, and dropped out.

After a few years as a carpenter, and in hotel management, Sergeant Riddiford decided he wanted to prove to himself he could do it, so he joined up again.

Unfortunately, he had to do his entire 20 weeks of training again.

After training, Sergeant Riddiford spent 10 years in general duties working in city stations, two years at Yarrum, before working in the Regional Response Unit at Werribee and the Sex Offenders and Child Abuse Unit in Melbourne.

He came to Bendigo eight years ago to work with Crime Scene Services.

An average day sees his team get in at 6.30am, and check what jobs are on their plate.

Then, anything could happen, and it could be anywhere.

Working in an area which stretches from Gisborne in the south to Gunbower in the north, and east-west from Coonooer Bridge to Rushworth has its challenges.

Crime Scene Services can be called to anything from a murder, to a hostage situation, or to a kindergarten to speak to kids.

It’s the diversity of the work that Sergeant Riddiford thrives on.

“I like the challenge. I like the change, I like going to work for eight hours and not knowing what’s going to happen,” he said.

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