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Laying down their lives for ‘The Job’

Posted on September 9, 2011

By ALAN ERSKINE

IT was just another near-perfect weekend in the Mildura winter of 1979, and well over 100 police, other emergency service personnel, friends and supporters had turned out for a traditional charity fund-raising Sunraysia police golf day out at Riverside.

A FRIEND IN NEED: One of the many supporters of Police Remembrance Day and Blue Ribbon Day, Justin Grogan, is pictured with Blue Ribbon Day branch president Sergeant Dale Simm in front of the promotional board provided by Justin’s firm, Stockdale and Leggo, outside Mildura Police Station.

As the then local police roundsman and court reporter, I had joined in the golf day with some police mates when the course loudspeaker blared out with the call that every police member dreads…”Code 9 – Officer down.”

There was a mass exodus of all off-duty police golfers…walking, running and driving vehicles from every corner of the golf course…gathering at the club-house for a briefing by the then officer-in-charge of Mildura CIB, the late Graham MacAllister.

It was bad news. Detective Senior Constable Robert ‘Rocky’ Lane had been shot and killed while performing a routine interview of a young man in a caravan at Kyalite.

‘Rocky,’ and the scores of other Victoria police who have fallen in the line of duty, will be remembered in another special Mildura service to commemorate Police Remembrance Day and Blue Ribbon Day on Thursday, September 29, this year at the Greek Orthodox Church in Deakin Avenue.

The local Blue Ribbon Day has special significance for local police, For the past four years they have led volunteers in raising much-needed funds for the John Glen Resuscitation Unit in the Accident and Emergency department at Mildura Base Hospital. It is named in honour of the late motorcycle policeman John Glen, whose son Kieren ‘Chooka’ Glen became a long-serving policeman at Mildura until his recent retirement. His daughter Aimee Mazza is now a Senior Constable of police at Mildura, and a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee.

Funds raised so far have been used to buy a potentially life-saving rapid infuser, and this year police hope to raise almost $20,000 for the purchase of a Glidescope, used to provide a quick, clear passage for throat intubation in all-age patients.

One of the fund-raisers will be the ‘Drive-Thru for Blue’ McDonalds challenge, between 6pm-7pm on September 16, when $1 from every customer will go to the Blue Ribbon Foundation.

Police, family, friends and supporters will gather to commemorate Remembrance Day and Blue Ribbon Days at 11am on the 29th, with a joint service from the Greek Orthodox and police Chaplain, and an address by former long-serving Mildura policeman Bob Cochrane.

The following day, Mildura’s Blue Ribbon Committee will hold another fund-raiser, this time as part of the Mildura Country Music Festival, with the popular Constable T. Bear, a Buff Dog and scale model of a police helicopter the main prizes in a special raffle.

The association’s major fund-raiser will be held later in the year, when the highly-regarded and experienced Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles of the Homicide Squad will feature in a once-off ‘Inside Story’ appearance at the Mildura Club. This event will be held on Sunday, November 27, at 2pm, with tickets to go on sale soon at $25 a head.

President of the Mildura Blue Ribbon Association, Sergeant Dale Simm of Mildura police, said police Remembrance Day and Blue Ribbon Day, named to honour the memories of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller, should be commemorated by police and public alike.

“It is a solemn day for past and serving members,” he said. “It is a time to reflect on those men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty since policing first began in Victoria, and to spare a thought for all those who are on the front line every day, doing the job of maintaining law and order.”

Sergeant Simm said police were like any other employees in the State…they go to work, and expect to return home to their loves ones at the end of the day, or the end of their shift…but sadly, sometimes this doesn’t always happen.

“September 29 is always a special day for us,” he said. “It allows us to pay due respects to those who have set the example before us…and who paid the supreme sacrifice.”

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