Truck rollovers, welfare checks, highway patrol, house fires, serious crimes — when you're the only cop in town, you do a bit of everything.
Senior Constable Annie Coobs is often first on the scene for these kinds of things, being the lone officer at the station in Culgoa, a town of fewer than 100 people.
She originally grew up in nearby Kerang, and says the community is her favourite part of the job.
"They're just a great bunch of people" she says.
"I do say sometimes I feel bad getting paid.
"And there's other days when I feel like I don't get paid enough ... but I feel very blessed to police not only Culgoa but Buloke as a whole."
Of the many single-officer stations across Victoria, very few are staffed by women.
Senior Constable Coobs says navigating the community dynamic can be tricky at times.
"It's not just about solving crime, it's putting out spotfires, it's being approachable, it's finding a real balance between being a police officer and being a friend, a confidant," she says.
"There are so many dynamics to country policing, it is hard to navigate at times, it's certainly not for everyone but I definitely love it."
Being so close to those in town can sometimes make the job more difficult.
"When we're dealing with fatalities and we're dealing with people that we know, there's no anonymity," she says.
"You might be delivering terrible news to someone and then you've got to see them every day after that and your heart breaks.
"When you live and work in a small community there is no escape and you live and breathe what the locals go through."
Preventing crime by knowing your neighbours
About 40 kilometres down the road, Leading Senior Constable Mark Keenan works a similar beat to Annie Coobs, being the lone officer in Woomelang.
The town is slightly bigger than Culgoa but still small enough that Mark pretty much knows everyone — something he makes an effort to promote.
His philosophy is that a sense of "ownership and belonging" deters crime in the long run, and he strives to bring newcomers into Woomelang life.
"They start to feel that they are part of the community, and the infrastructure within the community partly belongs to them, then they take care of it better," he says.
Although there is very little crime in Woomelang to start with, Leading Senior Constable Keenan says being seen around town has a preventative effect.
"A police presence is important in not allowing crime to happen in the first place," he says.
"Whilst you may be a one-member station, you don't work on your own because you work with the community."
