Queensland Police Union Journal

Far Northern Region Roundup
MARTY BRISTOW
Some time ago during a restructure media interview, the Commissioner Ian Stewart made the comment that
being a police officer is no longer a career, but ‘just a job’. I have thought long and hard about what he said, and
I have to disagree. I suspect the Commissioner doesn’t even believe it; I would not be surprised if the comment
was made in conversation with someone who has never been a police officer. It may be just a job to them, but
not to me and many other police.
Not far from where I live is a bridge
named in honour of Senior Constable
Desmond Trannore, who is still
held in the highest regard among
many Gordonvale residents. He was
stationed in Gordonvale throughout
most of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
As the local copper, Desmond was an
active member of many community
organisations, and he was heavily
involved in community activities –
teaching boxing at the local youth
club and running the Gordonvale Pony
Club, Aussie Rules, tennis and cricket
clubs.
Desmond Trannore was tragically
killed when he attended a domestic
dispute at little Mulgrave, near
Gordonvale, on 26 October 1964. He
gave his life to a wife and her three
children, running toward danger when
most others would have run away.
I am sure being a police officer was
more than just a job to Desmond, and
I am certain his family don’t believe he
gave his life for just a job.
Each month when I attend Union
Executive meetings in Brisbane, I sit
down with the other QPU officials and
I see the name Desmond Trannore on
an honour board, alongside the names
of all the other officers murdered in
the line of duty. Many are dedicated
young family men who made the
ultimate sacrifice for their community.
There are names like Brett Irwin who
was fatally shot while attempting to
serve a Bail Act warrant, and Douglas
Wrembeck who was struck down and
purposely killed by a motor vehicle
when he was performing traffic duty in
August 1962 in Brisbane.
Constable Albert Price: stabbed to
death while attempting to arrest a man
in Mackay in December 1905 ... and
there are many other names. Was it
just a job to these men?
It’s not only the families of those
who have been taken from us so
“If it were just a job, why does that hair stand
up on the back of our necks when you hear the
radio crackle and a quivering voice call, ‘VKR,
we need urgent assistance!’”
brutally who have suffered. There
is the constant risk of permanent or
debilitating injuries, and that silent
assassin (PTSD) that claws at many of
us. Why would anyone want to expose
themselves to these sorts of risks for
‘just a job’?
I was certain we had moved on from
the brutal coal mines of the 19th
century, where people died in horrific
conditions trying to provide a meagre
income for their families.
I sincerely hope we are not on the
way back there. How many names will
there be on the list of applicants to the
QPS if there is the attitude that it’s just
a job?
I spent some time speaking to staff
and asking them for their opinion, and
whether they believed being a police
officer was just a job. Some did agree,
though I could see that it was not so
long ago they believed it was more
than that.
If it were just a job, why do I know
of police officers who have cradled
a dying person at a traffic incident,
trying to provide them some comfort
in their last seconds on this planet?
If it were just a job, why does a CPIU
detective lie awake at night with a
blank stare on their face, looking
into the darkness but seeing only
the broken and battered body of an
abused child?
If it were just a job, why does that
hair stand up on the back of each and
every one of our necks when you hear
the radio crackle and a quivering voice
call, ‘VKR, we need urgent assistance!’
If it were just a job, would
Queensland’s biggest investigation in
history have resulted in the location
and arrest of the alleged offender
in relation to Daniel Morecombe’s
disappearance?
Queensland Police Union Journal June 2013 9