34 Bendigo district police officers recognised at awards ceremony

Members and staff who have served 10 years or more were awarded a Victoria Police Service Medal, while members who have provided 15 or more years of service were awarded a National Police Service Medal.

More than 30 members from the City of Greater Bendigo, and the Loddon, Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander, Campaspe and Central Goldfields shires, were recognised at the ceremony, joined by colleagues, family and friends.

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Assistant commissioner Michael Grainger, who oversees the Western Region from Geelong to Mildura and Echuca, said it was important for police members to reflect on the work they do.

"We're here to serve our community and make it a safe place to live and special occasions like this represent an opportunity for me as a representative of the Chief Commissioner to say thank you, and to thank the families, more importantly, for their amazing support," he said.

Mr Grainger said policing was impactful on families, who were crucial to supporting members.

"[Police leave] home at short notice often to deal with remarkable and concerning things, and the families remain at home concerned," he said.

"They come home from that shift, often affected in different ways, and the families wrap their arms around their people and make sure that they're right to go back to work the next day."

Policing can be stress-inducing and traumatic, Mr Grainger said, and critical incidents involving drugs, firearms and other crime often become routine.

"I encourage our people to take time to actually sit back and think about how remarkable they are and what a remarkable job they're doing and to check in on their own health, on their own wellbeing to make sure they're traveling okay," he said.

Superintendent at the Bendigo division of the Western Region, Brad Dixon, said award ceremonies were a chance for fellow members to congratulate each other.

"We get so busy and wrapped up dealing with the day-to-day stuff, it's just good to take some time take a breath and actually sit back and recognise some of the great work that goes on our community towards public safety," he said.

Among the award winners were Sergeants Trevor Bailey, John Dalton and Suzanne Pentland who all celebrated 30 years; Sergeant Gary Walter who celebrated 35 years; and Senior Sergeants Ian Brooks and Dave Collins who celebrated 40 years of service.

Special commendations were also delivered to first constable Todd Runnels, acting sergeant Jordan Norrice and senior constable Joshua Gray for exceptional performance and dedication to duty to assist young male from harm in 2022.

Senior constable Joshua Daffy was commended for "initiative dedication to duty and innovative investigation techniques" during a major investigation in 2020 and constables Nicholas Humphreys and Ashley Turner were commended for "professionalism and dedication to duty" for assisting a young male in 2021.

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Mr Grainger said he had feelings of pride seeing everyone accept their awards.

"We have our crime issues, our road trauma issues, and all sorts of issues that we deal with, and yet our people keep coming back to work every day to support our community," he said.

"Yes we're paid to do it, but our guys and girls go above and beyond, in my opinion, what they're paid to do.

"They care about people, they care about our community, and I'm just incredibly proud of them."

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