Fallen officers commemorated at Police Remembrance Day
Fallen officers commemorated at Police Remembrance Day tomorrow
Police Remembrance Day will take on added
significance this year as three more officers who were
killed as a result of criminal actions are formally
recognised for the first time.
Police Remembrance Day is held every year on 29 September, which is the feast day of the Archangel Michael, patron saint of police.
This year the 32 officers slain on duty and 40 officers and employees who have died as result of duty since 1886 will be remembered, along with serving and former constabulary staff and employees who have died in the past year.
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, Governor-General of New Zealand will attend the National Remembrance Day Ceremony at Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC), her first official engagement as Governor-General.
Commissioner of Police Mike Bush, the Police Executive, and members of the Diplomatic Corps will also join Police staff, family and friends in paying tribute to the fallen officers.
Plaques commemorating the three past slain officers, Constables James Butler, Louis Hekenui Bidois and Detective Constable Ronald Hill, have been added to the Memorial Wall at the RNZPC.
(Officer bios below this release)
“These staff members have been identified through the ongoing Recognition Project, which was set up three years ago to ensure that we properly acknowledge those who have given their lives in the course of their work,” says Police Commissioner Mike Bush.
Last year the project led to recognition at Remembrance Day of 38 staff members who died through accident or illness arising from their work, alongside the 29 officers killed as a result of a criminal act, who we recognise every year.
“We needed to find a way to honour those who lost their lives in crashes, accidents, explosions, by drowning or from illnesses contracted while carrying out their Police duties.
Their contribution is part of our history and they need to be formally recognised,” says Mr Bush.
This year the Recognition Project has also identified two more officers who died performing their duty: Constable Cecil Orr (who was hit by a train in Auckland, 1942); and Peter Hart (who died in a car crash in Napier, 1974).
Three slain Traffic Officers - John Kehoe, Barry Gibson and Robin Dudding - now also have individual plaques on the Memorial Wall.
Previously they were listed to one side on a joint memorial.
“Police has employed many thousands of people in our 130-year history.
Identifying those who died as a result of their duties is a big task and despite our best efforts there may be people who have been inadvertently missed or whose families believe should be included but aren’t on the current list.
“Being able to pay formal tribute to the additional staff this year is another step in the continuing process of the Recognition Project.
We’re very willing to consider further information that becomes available and include anyone who meets the criteria,” says Mr Bush.
Research to date has established that 40 employees have so far met the criteria, which are that the person must have been a Police employee and have died as a direct result of injuries sustained or illness or disease contracted in the course of their Police duties.
The first person to die as a result of duty was Senior Constable Henry Porter, who was aged 41 when he accidentally drowned while doing his night rounds in Port Chalmers on 21 June 1887.
Other deaths include the crew of the Eagle helicopter, who were killed when it collided with a fixed wing aircraft over Auckland on 26 November 1993, and a member of the Christchurch Child Protection Unit who died when the CTV building collapsed in the 2011 Canterbury earthquake.
Remembrance Day services honour Police colleagues in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific who have been killed on duty or died in service in the preceding year.
Former staff members who have died in the past 12 months are also remembered.
The RNZPC service will be live streamed on the NZ Police website starting at 11am on Thursday at http://www.police.govt.nz/remembranceday
The full list of the 40 people so far identified as having died as a result of their Police duties is on the Police website: www.police.govt.nz
Backgrounds of the three slain officers
added to the wall this year:
Constable James Butler was
29 when he died on 2 January 1938 after being assaulted at
Dunedin Police Station.
Constable Butler, whose father
John was also a Constable, had been in Police for five
years.
On Christmas Day 1937 a violent, drunken prisoner
broke free while being taken to the cells and attacked him,
kicking him several times.
He died in hospital eight days
later from a pulmonary embolism, the attack having dislodged
a pre-existing blood clot which moved to his
lung.
Seventy Police colleagues escorted the coffin from
Dunedin Hospital to the Central Police Station.
It was put on a train, attended by a Sergeant, for the long journey to the family’s home town Waipukurau, Hawke’s Bay.
There he was buried alongside his father.
Constable Louis Hekenui Bidois - known as Heke - died in 1955 from an injury sustained in an assault at Te Whaiti, Bay of Plenty, six years earlier.
He was 56, married with three sons and had
served in Police for 14 years.
He was persuaded to join
Police after helping the local Constable in matters relating
to Māori.
He became district Constable for the remote Te
Whaiti district in 1936.
On 7 May 1949, Constable Bidois
was hit with a bottle while arresting two drunks at a
dance.
He never fully recovered, taking permanent sick leave then retiring in 1953.
He died on 24 May 1955.
His
death certificate cites death due to brain injury.
In
1949 the offenders were jailed for three months for the
assault.
Detective Constable Ronald Bernard Hill, known as Bernie, was killed in a car crash on 25 May 1969.
He was 22 and had been in Police three years, recently joining Palmerston North CIB.
He had swapped shifts to free him up for his wife’s 21st birthday the next weekend.
He had arrested a burglar in Shannon and was a passenger in the police car driving a witness home when a car crossed the centre line and hit them head-on.
Bernie died
instantly.
The other driver was disqualified and had been
drinking and the car had no warrant of fitness or
registration.
The driver died so there was no
prosecution.
There was a large Police presence including
a guard of honour at Bernie’s funeral at All Saints
Church, Palmerston North.
The full bios of these three officers are available on request to bridget.hayman@police.govt.nz
Remembrance Day
Background:
Police Remembrance Day is held every year on
29 September, which is the feast day of the Archangel
Michael, patron saint of police.
It is marked by Police
in New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the
Solomon Islands.
This year the 32 officers slain on duty
and 40 officers and employees who have died as result of
duty since 1886 will be remembered, along with our serving
and former constabulary staff and employees who have died in
the past year.
The Police Remembrance Day Huia Pin:
The
Police Remembrance Day Pin was developed by New Zealand
Police and the Police Association.
Now lost to us, the
Huia bird's tail plumage is something rare and
special.
To wear it is considered by Maori to be a great
honour.
By incorporating the Police chevron into the Huia
tail feather, the design of the pin symbolises the honouring
of someone special, now lost to the Police.
Police staff
throughout New Zealand take part in Remembrance Day by
wearing the pin to honour the memory of those police
officers slain while carrying out their police
duties.
Any donations towards the pin will go to the
Police Families Charitable Trust for the families of New
Zealand police officers who have been slain while carrying
out their police duties.
Huia e! Huia tangata
kotahi.
He totara kua hinga.
The feather of the huia,
for someone special.
One dearly
departed.