General News
14 June, 2022
Boy in blue; Mario Miocic signs off after 28 years service
SERGEANT Mario Miocic has given 28 years of his life to Victoria Police, and 25 of those were spent here in Ararat.
SERGEANT Mario Miocic has given 28 years of his life to Victoria Police, and 25 of those were spent here in Ararat.
Mario’s decision to move to Ararat was Melbourne’s loss and our gain.
“We’ve never looked back,” he said. “Country policing not for everybody. But it’s a great place. I’ve had an absolute ball.”
Born in Melbourne in 1968, Mario entered the police force because he felt policing offered job security, and “looked like fun.”
Mario met future wife Michelle, who had moved to the city from Ararat. The couple married and welcomed their children Olivia and Jake. They were living in East Bentleigh when they decided it was time for a change.
“We came up just for something different, and for family reasons,” Mario explained.
“Within two weeks, I’ve put in my papers and bang, here I was here in sunny Ararat. It was a summer’s day in 1996. I’ll never forget my first day. You can’t make this up. It was amazing. They call it ‘unpack day’. You get familiarised around that station, and all that sort of stuff. Peter Bigmore was the sergeant on duty. It was a bright sunny day. We set up a digi-tech down in Lambert Street. We were sitting down and then the van turns up with an esky full of icy poles. Here I am, my first day in Ararat, sitting under the trees in Lambert Street eating icy poles. I couldn’t believe it.”
Michelle still had family here, so there was that connection too. The Miocics bought a small property just north of town, and the children thrived in their new rural home.
“I recall shortly after we moved in, we had a visit from a neighbour and Olivia came out with me to greet these people. All of a sudden I was like, ‘where’s Olivia?’ and here she was up a pine tree. That was it. It was the right decision. The kids have had so many amazing opportunities in school. Marian College was just an amazing school.”
Compared to a day on the beat in the city, Mario would take a day’s policing in Ararat any day. “The city is just nuts. I worked in Carlton in the ‘90s and met all the characters.”
Mario said he always reverted to his training when the heat was on, along with relying on the people he worked with.
Mario’s legacy to the Ararat Police station is a positive work culture and a safe workspace, an achievement of which he says he is very proud.
“I’d like to think that I drove the culture. You want to invest time in people. I’m a firm believer that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been there, it’s what you’ve done while you’ve been there. You have to remain interested and on top of legislation.”
Mario was faced with the tough decision to retire due to ill health, and pulled his final shift last weekend.
Some memorable career highlights for Mario have been waking up every morning excited to go to work. He loved the people he has worked with throughout his time on the force. At Ararat, Mario worked under two excellent sergeants, the late Terry Weeks and the now-retired Matt Wood.
Mario was promoted to sergeant in 2009. “They’ve got the confidence in you to make the right decisions,” he said of his team.
During his time policing our town, Mario said the same issues impact Ararat now as they did then – domestic violence and drug abuse. In the 1990s, cannabis and heroin were the problem. Today, it’s ice, a drug which Mario describes as a “scourge on society.”
In recent years, Mario has noticed a decrease in weekend assaults which he attributes to there now being only two pubs in town when there used the be seven.
“[Magistrate] Tim McDonald used to call Ararat the Wild West.”
Other changes Mario has seen over the years is the police station itself, and the influx of female police officers.
“We had so much fun at that old station. I’ve got so many memories. We had an input in the design. We wanted people to be together, like the meals area. It’s so inviting and helps us stay connected.” Mario believes this connectedness helps the officers when they are out in the field.
And in reference to his female colleagues, Mario believes they bring a different dynamic to the workplace, and a welcome one at that. “I believe people should be rewarded on merit,” Mario says of gender equality in the workplace.
Mario has earned respect in town by showing respect to its citizens. Some of them have thanked him for putting them on the straight and narrow, and even shouted him a beer.
“I just like to socialise,” he laughs.