Timaru police mark colleagues’ sacrifices
Timaru police have paused to remember the colleagues who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their commitment to protect and serve.
About 15 members of the police, along with representatives from the fire service, gathered at the Timaru Cemetery on Thursday to mark Police Remembrance Day.
A roll call of 32 names was read out during the ceremony.
It represented every police officer killed in the line of duty since 1886.
Mid/South Canterbury Area Commander Inspector Dave Gaskin led the service, which took place at the grave site of Constable James Dorgan.
Dorgan was August 27 1921.
He was found dead outside a Timaru drapery store which he fatally shot on had been watching, believing a robbery was taking place inside.
His death remains the only murder of a police officer unsolved in New Zealand.
Also remembered at the ceremony were four former South Canterbury police officers who died during the past 12 months.
They were Sergeant Robert Kerr, Constable Barry Maclaughlin, of Waimate, Constable John Nicholson, and Con- stable Terry Poulsen.
Special mention was also made of Constable William Watt, a Waimate police officer who died in a car crash at Elephant Hill Creek on his way to a homicide call in 1939.
Speaking after the ceremony, Gaskin said it was important to commemorate those who had died in the line of duty.
‘‘It’s to acknowledge those members of our staff who have gone to work to carry out their job and never came home.
‘‘Most have left young families or relatives, it’s one of those parts of grief that never goes away.’’
Police Association president Greg O’Connor said Police Remembrance Day was a ‘‘sobering reminder’’.
‘‘Whatever else we do in police, this day is the one that reminds us that being a police officer is different,’’ he said.