For solo country cop Michael Thunig, police life in the
South-East town of Lucindale comes with its share of tragedies. Just last May
he responded to a fatal car crash, in which the victim – a husband and
father of three – was a local resident whom he knew.
Word of the accident spread quickly, even to the dead
man’s wife. And, desperate for news, she called Thunig while he was still
at the crash scene and asked him about her husband.
“I let her know that I didn’t want to talk to her
over the phone,” says Thunig. “Whether she knew it was going to be
bad news, I don’t know. But you’ve got to reassure these people and
speak to them in person.
“It’s probably the worst part of the job –
having to tell members of the family their loved one has died. It makes it even
harder when you know the person and the family.”
Although he must, at times, confront tragedy, Thunig’s
working life is no gloom-filled existence. The energetic 39-year-old senior
constable, who has served as officer-in-charge of Lucindale Police Station for
four years, loves country policing.
He runs school and kindergarten programmes, co-ordinates the
Lucindale Rural Watch, and supports the local CFS, scout group and Uniting
Church. Thunig also coaches under-17s football and runs an annual police
charity golf day which, in his four years, has raised $33,000.
That money has gone back to the community to support local
organizations.
And it seems the local Lucindale folk appreciate their lawman.
They recently gave him their overwhelming support through nominations for the
Police Officer of the Year award, which he won in May.
The surprise honour shocked the husband and father of three
into silence. “I was surprised I was even nominated,” he says.
“I have to admit there is a bit of embarrassment to it. It’s a bit
mind-boggling, but it’s a great feeling to have won.
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Senior Constable Michael Thunig:
“...I get a lot of pleasure out of being a copper in the
country.” |
“I couldn’t go to a country town and not be involved
in the community. I just feel that’s the way a country policeman should
be.”
As well as Thunig’s local community, his superiors, and
the award’s sponsor, the Rotary Club of Unley, saw him as a worthy winner.
Lucindale Area School principal, Ron Tiller, spoke of
Thunig’s “strong community ethic” and “genuine interest in
people”. “He has contact with the youth of the town as coach of the
under-17 football side,” he says.
“The other side of that, of course, is that he needs to
manage youth difficulties in the town, and he balances that really well.”
South East LSA boss, Superintendent Terry Harbour, sees Thunig
as a quiet, approachable officer, whose character draws people to him.
“There doesn’t appear to be one person in town who doesn’t get
along with him,” he says, “and that is extremely important for a
country police officer.”
Thunig had wished for a police career since he was a child. As
he grew up amid the tough, working-class environment of 1970s Whyalla, he saw
plenty of bikie gangs and street action. Much of the thrust and parry played
out within view from his German migrant parents’ takeaway-food shop in the
main street. “
One memory I have,” he says, “is seeing Harley
Davidson after Harley Davidson parked next to each other, from the Bayview
Hotel down to the Spencer Hotel. That’s a distance of about 250 metres...
just one Harley after the next.”
But it was the police who most impressed the young Thunig. Not
then even a teenager, he watched them deal with troublemakers and thought
police work looked like “a good job”. Inspired, he decided he would
himself be a cop some day.
Thunig first tried to join the thin blue line as soon as he
finished high school. But, he missed out, opted for a trade and joined BHP.
There, he became an instrument mechanic and stayed with the company for four
years.
He then took a shot at professional football in Adelaide and
gained a little more life experience before he tried again to join SAPOL.
“Finally,” he says, “my dream came true when I was 25, back in
1988. The department accepted me, and I haven’t looked back.”
Now, in the third country post of his 14-and-half-year career,
Thunig deals chiefly with traffic and underage drinking offences, and theft. He
also faces the difficult issue of sheep-stealing.
“You just don’t know what’s going to happen
from day to day,” says Thunig. “You have boring days and exciting
days but it’s the grass roots of policing, and I get a lot of pleasure out
of being a copper in the country.”
