THE THIN BL UE LINE IS IN THEIR BLOOD
THE McKeegan policing lineage, which stretches back to a mounted trooper working the Goulburn Valley during the late 1800s, continued on Saturday when Damian and Xavier manned the Little River checkpoint.
Xavier, 23, followed in the footsteps of his dad and Geelong detective, Damian, 53, and mum, Karen, into the police force after growing up with the trials, triumphs and “war stories” his parents told.
“The whole policing household was burning in the back of my mind my entire life,” Xavier, a constable at the Corio police station, said of his move into the police force. Rather than push him away, the confronting realities of policing sparked curiosity.
Combined, Xavier’s parents have more than 45 years of policing experience, which has included detective work based at the famed Russell Street police headquarters in Melbourne.
Before them came John Joseph Glynn, Damian’s great- great- grandfather, who died after falling from his horse in 1894 and whose career is a source of pride for the family.
Xavier said a policing career offered possibilities that didn’t exist in other jobs. “It’s far from your stock standard nine-to-five job,” he said.
“Every day you go to is different. Every scene you go to is different.
“One day you could be at something very gruesome then the next day you could be speaking to an underprivileged child making their day bright.
“It’s the flexibility of it all. You just never know what you are going to walk into.”
That was what Xavier sought when he joined the police academy in late 2018 after studying mathematics at university for 18 months.
He has now been in the force for a year and has ambitions of working in the homicide squad or major collisions investigation unit.
Damian’s advice to his son for the job is simple: “Look after yourself and others.”