Imagine seeing your spouse, partner, son, daughter, dad or mum walking out the front door for work, with the thought you may never see them again. For the men and women in blue, that's a threat they and their loved ones confront each day.
NSW Police Force officers are highly trained to deal with danger. Their work to protect the community all too often means confronting violence. When others are fleeing danger, it's their job to pursue it in order to keep the rest of us safe.
This courage and selflessness is recognised in the oath each officer takes upon joining the Force, to preserve the peace and 'to prevent to the best of my power all offences against that peace'.
When a colleague falls while keeping that oath, the police family wraps the bereaved and grieving in a blanket of blue, providing comfort and support.
Today (29 September 29) is National Police Remembrance Day. On or around each 29 September, police and their families across Australia (and some nearby countries) gather at memorials etched with the names of those tragically killed in the line of duty. Each 29 September, except this one.
COVID-19 has disrupted much, including Police Remembrance Day services. This includes local events at the Local Police Memorial at Woronora Cemetery and annual services alternating between St Catherine's Gymea and St Luke's Miranda.
I hope that all spare a minute - just 60 seconds - to consider what these officers sacrificed for us.
The Australian police community has suffered greatly this year. Four Victoria Police officers were killed during a routine speed check. Here in NSW, Constable Aaron Vidal lost his life on the way home to his pregnant fiancée from the Day Street station in Sydney's CBD. He'd spent the day working alongside his dad.
So the next time your loved one heads out the door, please think of the sacrifice of those in blue.
- Mark Speakman
Member for Cronulla
Attorney General and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence
