Spending time with.... Sergeant Michael Wear
Your journey
Tell us about your journey, what have you been up to since we last saw you at Scope?
Since my Scope experience I have been in the same role as Marine Search and Rescue Coordinator at Water Police. This role has taken me all around WA and Australia. I also teach at a National Search and Rescue course every year in Canberra.
Moments in time
What are the two most pivotal moments in your career that you either learned from or got you where you are today?
Graduating from the Police Academy 27 years ago is still one of the best things I have ever achieved.
When I received my transfer to Water Police it fulfilled a dream of mine since I was a child.
Your thoughts on motivation
What are your personal motivators and drivers that keep you doing what you do?
I once saw a sign in a shop in Singapore and I wrote it down and a copy has been in my wallet ever since:
“Success is not the key to happiness, Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you do, you will be successful”
If you love your job like I do and are passionate about the role, you do not need much motivation to do your job.
How do you motivate your team?
By trying to make their work environment the best place possible to work. Also arranging external visits to different agencies to see what else happens like visiting the Perth Airport Tower, Fremantle Harbour Shipping Tower.
When you are involved in search and rescue and you are involved in an incident where you have just saved somebody’s life, you don’t need to motivate people too much because it is the best feeling you can ever experience at work.
But then again if the event has a tragic result, it is a time when police officers pull together and look after each other. It is an extraordinary “family” of support that you could never experience anywhere else.
Your advice
What advice would you give someone starting out in your profession?
Give it a go, Policing in my eyes is the best career in the world. It has such fulfilling rewards, it makes you street wise and you see the world from a different perspective than just an member of the public. But it’s not for everyone, you will find out early enough If it’s for you or not.
What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop?
Always looking at ways other agencies, like the Unites States Coast Guard, Canadian and NZ Coast Guard go about their business, keeping an interest in developing technology and what technologies can be implemented into our sphere of work.
Your lifestyle
How do you start and end your day?
I am a news junkie, so I like to start every day reading the newspaper from back to front while having my breakfast. In the evening I will usually end the day by chasing my two Chihuahua’s around the house as they are hiding from me before I put them in the laundry for the night.
What's the most exciting thing you have done over the past year?
In 2014 I was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship and as a result during 2015 I travelled to the United States and Canada and visited numerous Coast Guard stations to examine how they conduct search and rescue operations.
While I was in the USA, I was able to attend the United States Coast Guard Training Centre and completed their Maritime Search Planning course which was a 4 week live in course. I spent the 4 weeks in Virginia living the life of a ‘Coastie’ and experiencing their culture and comparing their system to the Australian SAR system.
What’s left on your bucket list that you are dying to do?
Tough question, as I have had a very fortunate life and travelled to so many destinations around the world. One thing I have always wanted to do is to go sailing on a private yacht (preferably my own) through the tropical waters of Whitsunday passage, and to be fit enough to run a marathon.
Your Scope journey
Describe your Scope experience in 5 words
Challenging, Educational, Friendly, Helpful, Fulfilling.
What’s your favourite memory from your Scope experience?
When you listened to all the other students on the course I felt very under qualified and inferior to a lot of them. But when it came to the session when you had to stand up and give a presentation to the group, I smashed it!
Thanks Michael for sharing your thoughts! We love sharing the thoughts of extra-ordinary people!
