Pittwater Life January 2018 Issue

The Thin Blue (Wa
News
We’re putt-putting
through a no-wash
zone by Scotland
Island on a “ride-along” with
Broken Bay Water Police and
I can’t get two songs out my
head. One is the Paul Kelly
tune about “so much water”;
the other the theme song to
Cops – “Bad boy, bad boys,
what you gonna do”. And it’s
a bit annoying. And then the
songs are gone because I’m
just about airborne. And it’s
all I can do to hang on.
We’re on a “ride-along” with
Senior Constables Matthew
Watt and Nathan Cooksley,
shooting breeze, talking shop,
when Watt points into the
distance and says, “Jetskis”.
And we go from walking pace
to high-speed pursuit. The
vessel had appeared modest,
a cross between a small
commercial fishing boat and
honest tug. But when Cooksley
guns its twin outboard Suzuki
engines, it’s like being in Mad
Max’s tricked-up V8 Interceptor
bounding through sand
dunes. Which is quite exciting.
We’d met the men in their
office at Holmeport Marina on
Church Point. The view from
the deck is of moored white
boats on a green sea framed
by a forest of eucalypts. The
office itself is like any other,
just with high security and
guns. There are radios on the
wall, what looks like Batman’s
utility belt hanging off
a hook. There are computers,
whiteboards, a kitchen with
ordinary coffee. There’s a picture
of Borat in a mankini.
HIGH VISIBILITY POLICING: Senior Constables Watt and Cooksley plot their course for a day's 'PR' on Pittwater.
I’m given a lifejacket and a
brief drill on its contents.
“Can you swim?” asks Watt.
I nod.
“Do you know boats?”
Not so much.
“Keep one hand free.”
“What for?” I ask.
“To hang on,” replies Watt
presciently.
Broken Bay Water Police
patrol a body of water bigger
than Sydney Harbour. From
their base at Church Point,
their “beat” extends across
the Pittwater, up the Hawkesbury
and north to Brisbane
Water on the Central Coast.
They can head 30 nautical
miles out to sea.
Their work is varied.
There’s untold hectares of
national park in which hikers
can sometimes become lost.
One time a person reported
the hull of an upturned boat
that turned out to be a dead
whale being feasted upon by
sharks. There’s a “Pudding
Club” which contains a list of
pregnant women on Scotland
Island and their due dates.
And so those big Suzukis
roar like angry dragons and
we fly over the briny, the single-hulled
cop craft, on loan
14 JANUARY 2018
The Local Voice Since 1991