Medals honour our brave police

Two well-respected South West police officers injured in the line of duty were among more than 20 officers recognised yesterday for their service on the force.

Harvey police officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Laurie Morley and Bunbury Sen. Const. Karl Rep were awarded the WA Police Star, which recognises those either killed or seriously injured while performing their duties.

Sen. Sgt Morley received horrific injuries when he broke up a frightening brawl in Harvey in October 2015, while Sen. Const. Rep was hit by a car while on a motorcycle in 1995.

Sen. Sgt Morley said he was “extremely” honoured by the recognition.

“I feel very humbled ... but there’s lots of young coppers coming along behind me who I’d prefer not see get this award as it means that an individual has been seriously injured or killed in the line of duty,” Sen. Sgt Morley said.

“I would much prefer, after 40-something years of policing, to see nobody get injured in the line of duty – it’s a sad fact of policing, that it’s going to happen.”

Sen. Const. Rep said he was also honoured after wanting to be a police officer his “whole life”.

A further 21 officers were also awarded National, National Police and WA Police service medals.

Officers Linda Evans, Barb Bachos, Chelsea Armstrong, Geoffrey Peck, Ian Southall, Victoria Gilmour, Deb Buchanan, Marney Thomas-Harrison, Craig Clarke and Natalie Harrison were awarded WA Police Service Medals.

For 20 years on the force officers Dewayne Partington, Greg Ward, Kelly Grootveld, Kerry King, Joanne Haworth, James Gaunt and Peter Timms also received WA Police Service Medals.

A National Service Medal was awarded to officers Laurie Stubbs, Steph Smith and Ian Gilyead, while officer Peter Bamber received a National Police Service Medal.

Long-standing officer Peter Jenal was also presented with a commission signed by WA Governor Kim Beazley.