banana-skin guide to policing - New Zealand Police Association

NotebookFLASHBACKFrom left, Sergeant William Cooper, Constable Frederick Jordan, Constable Percy Tulloch, Constable Edward Best.Tragedy on the West CoastNo one really knows why StanleyGraham went on a killing rampage inOctober 1941, although there are plenty oftheories about his state of mind.REMEMBRANCE DAY 2013What we do know is that Graham washaving financial troubles on his dairyfarm at Kowhitirangi (then known asKoiterangi), inland from Hokitika on theWest Coast, and had been threateningneighbours, whom he believed wereIn the lead-up to 2013 RemembranceDay, we recall the sacrifice of theseven men who died at the hands ofStanley Graham in 1941:Sergeant William CooperBecause Remembrance Day fallson a Sunday this year, the officialceremony at the Police College willbe held on Friday, September 27.Leading up to RemembranceDay, which honours the memorypoisoning his cows. He was known toof police officers slain on duty,have several firearms and was a crack shot Constables Edward Best, Percy Association committees aroundcredited with being able to shoot a stag Tulloch and Frederick Jordanthe country will receive boxes ofbetween the eyes at 500 paces.Remembrance pins in timeAgriculture inspector GeorgeWhen police visited his house onRidleyfor them to be worn a weekOctober 8 to speak to him about hisbefore Remembrance Day.behaviour and ask him to relinquish hisHome guardsmen Richard Coulson The pins, which featurefirearms, the shooting started. By the end and Gregory Hutchisona huia bird featherof the second day, six men were dead – fourembedded with apolice constables and two home guardsmen An inscription on the memorial at police chevron, were(agriculture inspector George Ridley died Kowhitirangi, erected in 2004, is a created by thelater of his wounds in 1943) – gunned poignant reminder of the risks that Police Associationdown by Graham.police faced then and now. It is an in partnershipHe disappeared into the bush behind his extract from A Policeman’s Prayer with Police andproperty and evaded capture for nearly two and was found in the possession of have becomeweeks. The reasons for his pointless and Constable Tulloch after he died. a tangiblebloody actions died with him when he wassymbol tofinally felled by Constable Jim Quirke after “Let me look into the face of honour thea 12-day manhunt through rugged West death with unblinking eyes and memory of police officers slain onCoast terrain.with no sense of fear. Teach duty. Pins should be worn on theWhen the news broke on October 20me to realise that there are week leading up to and on the daythat Graham had been captured and hadof Remembrance Day, on the leftdied of his injuries, the New Zealand Police prowling human wolves everlapel or left hand side, above anyJournal was about to go to press. It ran a ready to devour the innocent, medals.one-sentence announcement and published that there are depravedAll funds collected in exchangephotos of the four dead officers. In its next creatures cast in comelyfor the pins go to the Police Familiesissue in December it was able to reproduceCharitable Trust, which helps thehuman mould to whom murdera stunning, full-page display of photosfamilies of police officers killed on(opposite page) taken during the search for is but an incident.”duty.Graham.218 SEPTEMBER 2013POLICE NEWS – THE VOICE OF POLICE