Page 3455 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 October 2022
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to recent significant protest activity. No matter what the challenge is, our officers have always remained in a strong position to provide community policing to the territory.
ACT Policing members have conducted themselves in an exemplary way that has brought stability to the community during what have been quite uncertain times in recent years, in keeping our community safe. They have continued to do an excellent job, ensuring that the incidence of crime remains low, and they have responded to those issues quickly when they do occur. I would like to acknowledge the families, friends and support networks of our ACT Policing members, who support their loved ones to do this important work for us, our community.
I was very honoured to represent the ACT Chief Minister and the ACT government at the National Police Memorial Day ceremony on 29 September. It was the second time I have done so on behalf of the government, to lay a wreath and express our gratitude on behalf of the ACT community to all members of ACT Policing, and recognise the sacrifice of police officers in the line of duty.
Today I would like to echo the words of AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw APM from that day, when he honoured the memory of police officers from across Australia, those who have lost their lives for the betterment of ours. He said:
As a community, we trust and rely on our police officers to keep us safe, but that safety is not always afforded to our police officers in the course of these duties …
… we pay tribute to our fallen officers, their families, friends and colleagues, who now carry their scars.”
The ACT government has a proud record of supporting our officers and will continue to do so through increasing resources, which we have done through a number of different budgets. We will continue to support them in their operational needs and work with them through our memorandum of understanding with ACT Policing to make sure they are supported to do their job.
We will continue to work through any policy and legislative challenges that come up. We are looking forward to progressing important legislative and policy reforms in this space to address trends in crime in the ACT, particularly with a focus on road safety and motor vehicle related offending over recent times.
ACT Policing’s operational expertise will feed directly into this policy development process and will ensure that we align our legislative agenda with supporting policing outcomes across Canberra and keeping our community safe.
We are very proud of the hard work of ACT Policing members. Its members constantly face a challenging and dangerous work environment. It is an inherent feature of policing, but the last few years have undoubtedly tested our officers’ resilience, professionalism and dedication in new ways. They have met the challenges that they have faced and have at all times continued to keep our community safe.
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