August 2018 Journal
Always Remembered
This month we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the murders of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller.
As Association President John Laird states inside, at a time when much of the public consciousness is focused on their killers, it’s the duty of our members to remember and honour these men, what they lived for and what they died for.
Anniversaries like this milestone give us cause to reflect. We carry their memory every day.
In October, Association Secretary Wayne Gatt and Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton will walk in memory of police who have lost their battle with mental health, and those who continue to fight it as a result of what they’ve experienced in the job.
The 1000-kilometre Head to Head Walk will see Gatt walking from Mildura and Ashton from Mallacoota, with the pair meeting ‘head to head’ in Wangaratta, raising money along the way
to support the Retired Peer Support Officer Program.
It’s a cause close to the heart of Sergeant Mark Thomas, who has established the Code 9 Foundation to offer a positive informal online and social forum to better support police who are dealing with mental health conditions.
We speak to Mark about what inspired him to form the group and why it’s different to other online police forums.
Also in this edition, we take a look inside TPAV’s new Member Support Centre and explain how it will benefit members seeking assistance from a range of departments and services.
A key element of the centre’s operation is the addition of three new field officers. We get to know each of them and the areas they will be looking after.
We also take aim at some of our oldest and most dilapidated police stations across the state and ask the age-old real-estate question: to renovate or detonate?
As always, please let us know if you have a good yarn that would be of interest to members by emailing us at journal@tpav.org.au.
