Scott Tanner arrived in Lismore as the Superintendent of Richmond Police District in 2020. The Lismore App's Liina Flynn sat down and recorded a Sunday Profile in August, just before he started in the role (SUNDAY PROFILE: New Police Superintendent Scott Tanner), and in October, Supt Tanner invited the Lismore App on a road trip to Nimbin.His goal was to make police more visible on the streets, getting back to some old-fashioned police work and to tackle domestic violence.Both tasks were made difficult by COVID-19 in 2020 and the 18 months that followed. Add to that Australia's most costly natural disaster with the big flood in February 2022, the follow-up major flood in March, and the subsequent rescue, recovery and rebuild of Lismore and the Northern Rivers, and you begin to understand his time as Superintendent of the Richmond police District has been anything but easy."I remember distinctly the first week I was here, there were two murders, unfortunately, across the PD (police district) in the very first week. And, I guess what I've discovered over the last four and a half years is that crime and tragedy and natural disasters doesn't discriminate. It can go right across the whole spectrum."There's been some really big jobs here, and some fantastic police work done. But I'm very proud of the work done in that EM (emergency management) space in particular."If ever I was going to be a victim in an emergency management situation, I hope it's up here in the Northern Rivers because I know now that the standard that they've set and the people that are involved in that environment are probably the best in their field."And I don't say that lightly, because we've learned a hell of a lot, and we had to, but that reassurance going forward is that disasters will occur again, and I'm so supremely confident in the people that you have got up here, and the agencies are well versed and are ready to go."Supt Tanner has spent 20 years of his policing career in the west of NSW. How does that compare to Lismore and the Northern Rivers?"It's varied. It's unique. The western area of the state has completely different social issues and crime issues. However, the biggest thing that we've all seen over the last couple of years is that explosion in youth crime, and I still do deliberately blame or apportion that to the COVID experience when we had this cohort of young people who were just isolated from their network."Their whole world was being online, where they were influenced to do all this other rubbish that goes on. And it's taken a while to sort of get a bit of a handle on that. That's probably the biggest change I've seen crime-wise over the last few years, that youth crime."Does Supt Tanner leave the Richmond Police District and the number of youth crime cases in a better position?"I don't want to jinx us, but certainly the results of Strike Force Imperium that we ran here, prior to now, the new one that's coming statewide, which is Strike Force Soteria, they've had outstanding results."The level of offending has reduced dramatically. The stolen vehicles and break-and-enters have really gone down. So we're hoping that we're seeing the other side of that hill and we're on the downward trajectory, but it's something you just can't take your eye off. You just can't."A significant skill that Supt Tanner has learned during his four and a half years in the Northern Rivers is emergency management following a disaster. In 2022, Supt Tanner was appointed to work in the Emergency Operations Centre with now NSWRA CEO Mal Lanyon, coordinating the flood rescue and recovery. He was recently appointed the Recovery Coordinator for Tropical Cyclone Alfred, his final job in the Northern Rivers.(Supt Scott Tanner speaking to the media in his role as TC Alfred Recovery Coordinator)"We're at a point now where a lot of the cleanup has been completed, as we know, and we've really got a good handle now on what the effects are on industry and on the community, and especially around the business and the primary industries."So, what we have done is developed some advice to government about how we can best support those industries and businesses, and we're just waiting for that advice to come back from government about where to from here."I think in general terms, it's been a really great effort from people from the EPA and the Councils with the cleanup, especially with the beach and the river systems. It allowed the tourism sector to benefit from the Easter/Anzac holiday, which I've been told has been quite successful."Road networks are all now completely open, but there is still some substantial damage around that. The road network itself, we're probably estimating about $250-$300 million worth of damage. When you look at landslips and potholes galore, it does add up, and there hasn't been a let-up in the weather, so they haven't been able to get in and do full assessments or full repairs for it.Through this experience, Supt Tanner said he has a newfound gratitude for the Reconstruction Authority."I think they've got some bad press over the years, as we know, and I was probably one of the ones who gave them some of that bad press. But they work hard, and they're good people, they're smart people, and quite often, they get lumbered with stuff that other departments in government haven't been doing, which is not in their bandwidth. I just want to reassure people that they have got the community's interest at heart. They work so damn hard."Supt Tanner also strengthens our community's response to natural disasters, both in preparation and in addressing the aftereffects."I think we saw during the preparation for Alfred that we were fortunate we had time to get resources in place. We're talking about two and a half thousand SES volunteers on the ground, over 500 ADF personnel here ready to go. We had quite substantial resources from right around the state and interstate. So, I think that is the model that government will accept going forward, and I think it's the model that the community will expect going forward. And I think that we showed that we can deliver."Where I'd like to see some learnings out of this latest event is that the support for business and primary industry probably needs to come in a lot quicker. And some of the recommendations I'm giving back to RA are that you basically have a 'How To Guide'."So, if an event is going to happen and it's flood, fire, famine, or whatever you want to call it. Have that program there ready to go. So it's a switch-on, switch-off type of program. That'll save a lot of grief, especially for primary industries and businesses having to repeat their story every time. That's some of the feedback that I got.One area of the Alfred recovery payments that came in for criticism was the disconnect between one weather event and the next. The funding is focused without any consideration that business and industry have been through two substantial disasters in quick succession, on a historic level, and the financial pain is only exacerbated by the new weather event. Will this change?"Absolutely. The discussions I had with the head of the Reconstruction Authority were exactly that. The DRFA (Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements) is all about that particular incident. But when you have these ones that are back to back to back to back, there's a compounding effect. And we know that the mental well-being of people has been affected immensely since, really, 2017. When you think about that, they've been living in this heightened state of anxiety and such a changing environment for the last, what, seven, eight years that we are seeing a lot of businesses now putting their hand up saying, we want out, we need help to actually get out."And a lot of primary industry is also going down the same path. There's one story in particular that resonates with me during this time. There was one gentleman that I spoke with in the primary industry, and for the last four years, he's tried four different crops, you know, tea tree, soya bean, sugar cane, and there was one other, and all of them have been wiped out by some form of natural disaster. So, you look at that gentleman, and that's his livelihood; he is in his 60s, that's his sort of superannuation going forward. How do people recover from that? Sometimes they don't. They have to walk away, which is a real shame."Supt Tanner has no time for a recuperative holiday before he starts his new role in Liverpool and Green Valley on Monday."I've never worked in Sydney, never lived in Sydney. So, you know, after 32 years, I thought it was an opportune time to go and, I guess, test myself in a new environment down there."I will still maintain the house up here, and I will still maintain a presence up here. I've got a lot of family that resides up here now. So, this will be where I retire and come back to, there's no doubt in the world about that. And this will always hold a very special place in my heart."Just this morning I was out with the Bundjalung Tribal Society, and they presented me with some natural trees, and some lemon myrtle and some other gifts for the stuff that I've done for them over the years. To feel that sense of appreciation is quite overwhelming actually."So, I've committed to them and to others that I might be gone, but I'll still be an advocate along the way if they need a hand with anything."That sums up not just the man in the uniform but the man himself. Scott Tanner has gone above and beyond to serve our community and to help those in need. Most of those acts you and I don't see, but in my job as a journalist, you certainly hear about in various conversations with a variety of people.Superintendent Tanner, thank you on behalf of the Lismore and Northern Rivers community.Superintendent Dave Roptell, you have big shoes to fill.