The names of the four Southern-based police officers slain on duty were among those remembered yesterday, Police Remembrance Day, when services were held across New Zealand, Australia and the southwest Pacific.
At the Dunedin service, Inspector Alastair Dickie read the 29 names on the New Zealand Police roll of honour, which remembers police and traffic officers killed on duty since 1886. Those include:
• Constable Donald Richard Stokes (23), who died on August 15, 1966, after being beaten by escaping prisoners in the Dunedin police station cells.
• Constable Peter William Murphy (21), who was shot when attending a break-in at an Invercargill sports shop on September 25, 1976.
• Senior Constable Peter Morris Umbers (35), who was bashed with his own baton when stopping Richard Thomas Lakich near Ranfurly, Central Otago, on May 27, 1990.
Snr Const Umbers was awarded the posthumous George Medal for bravery.
• Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthrie (41) died at Aramoana on November 13, 1990, after being shot by David Malcolm Gray, who shot dead 12 other people. Sgt Guthrie was awarded the posthumous George Medal for bravery.
Inspector Greg Sparrow said the police community was relatively small but close knit, with many officers knowing of a fallen officer.
Policing was a rewarding career but ''on a more sombre note it can bring us into conflict situations, and it is something we cannot and do not shy away from because we are charged with working in partnership with our community, but also protecting them''.
The dozens of officers gathered at the Dunedin Central Police Station observed a minute's silence.
Former officers who died in the past year were also acknowledged.
In Alexandra, about 30 people attended the Central Otago service yesterday.
Central Otago police sub-area supervisor Senior Sergeant Ian Kerrisk said staff and volunteers from police ''partner agencies'', such as St John, court staff and the probation service were invited to the service, along with police family members. At a service in Porirua, Police Minister Anne Tolley paid tribute to the officers who died in the course of their duties, and to serving and former police staff who died in the past year.
''It is a very emotional day which rekindles very powerful memories, and also serves as a reminder that the men and women in our police service are constantly putting their lives on the line to keep communities safe.''
- Additional reporting APNZ
