Grief still raw as brave slain police officers honoured
Melissa Meehan, Farid Farid, Rachael Ward and Ethan James |
Three officers gunned down in the line of duty have been etched in history and immortalised at police memorials, as their heartbroken families and colleagues laid wreaths in their honour.
Tears of grief fell as thousands of people paid tribute to officers killed on the job at National Police Remembrance Day services around Australia, with the entire policing family still reeling from their deaths.
No one knows the horrors of the job more than the families of Victorian police Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, killed in northern Victoria in August 26, and Tasmania Police Constable Keith Anthony Smith, shot dead in the state’s north in June.
Leading Senior Constable Thompson, a Victoria Police veteran of 38 years, was just a week away from retiring.
Their mourning families laid flowers at the police memorial on Melbourne’s St Kilda Road on Monday in front of plaques honouring their sacrifice.
A memorial was also held in the state’s high country where hundreds of police search for Dezi Freeman, accused of firing the weapon that killed Det Sen Const Thompson and Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart.
Victoria Police commissioner Mike Bush said their deaths were still raw and no one would forget the events in Porepunkah where “two of our very brave, courageous officers had their lives taken”.
“Those tragic losses remind us of the uncertainty, and, should I say, the inherent dangers that policing brings with us,” Mr Bush said at the memorial.
“To our friends and colleagues and the police who have left us, farewell. We honour you, and we will always remember you.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan acknowledged the increasing dangers police faced.
“Today’s officers not only face the traditional risks of the job, but also rising extremism, growing conspiracies and the pressures of an online world where anger spreads faster than facts,” she said.
Tasmania Deputy Police Commissioner Jonathan Higgins described Const Smith as a true professional who looked after his colleagues and community well.
“There is a great deal of sadness as we grieve and colleagues grieve, but there is a great deal of pride in seeing everybody come together,” he told the audience at Tasmania Police academy on the outskirts of Hobart.
The well-respected officer was shot dead while on duty in North Motton and a man is before the courts charged with his murder.
Const Smith was a 25-year veteran of the force, receiving the Commissioner’s Medal in 2011 and a 20-year clasp in 2021, as well as the National Police Service Medal in 2016.
At the Wall of Remembrance in Sydney, acting NSW police commissioner Peter Thurtell said “the force still felt the loss of three of our interstate colleagues”.
The state is adding the 2019 suicide of veteran Casino police officer Stephen Nixon to the wall, which the commissioner described as “a solemn tribute to courage, sacrifice and service”.
Premier Chris Minns also paid tribute to police accountant Curtis Cheng, gunned down 10 years ago by a radicalised Islamist teenager outside police headquarters in Parramatta.
In Queensland, 97-year-old Trevor Price paid tribute to his late grandfather, Constable Albert Price, who was murdered in 1905 at just 29.
A historical death was also added to the Melbourne memorial’s honour wall.
Constable Patrick Whyte died in the line of duty in 1866, but no living relatives could be tracked down and invited to the event.
Ceremonies were held across the nation.
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