No free ride for Chopper
Little, if any, disquiet seems to have followed the appearance
of notorious criminal Mark “Chopper” Read on Channel 9’s The
Footy Show last month. No letters to the editor in major dailies, no
reports of switchboard meltdown at 9’s Melbourne studio, and no
condemnatory newspaper editorials.
Did no one find the opportunity afforded him – to promote
himself and the road show he undertakes with former footballer, Mark Jackson
– objectionable?
He deliberately capitalizes on his misdeeds, is clearly no
influence for good, and appeals to no one’s better nature.
Although so far silent, parent groups and Read’s victims
would have ample justification to express their outrage over his Footy
Show segment. Also justified to feel outrage, but unlikely to express it
publicly, are the police.
Read’s very history represents incalculable police time
and effort over a number of decades. At various times, police officers gave the
most conscientious input to the investigation, arrest and conviction of Read.
But, he appeared laughingly on The Footy Show, and
showed – as he always does – his contempt for law enforcement, and
its practitioners. And that had to have come as a slap in the face to many
dedicated cops.
True, Read is free to do as he pleases. And, to guard our own
freedom of speech and expression, we should not interfere with his. But, at the
same time, we are no more compelled to watch or listen to him than the media
are obliged to provide him with free rides.
Worthy of medal
In 2000, the Police Journal reported on Community
Constable Evelyn Riessen who, in 1999, rescued a man from a burning caravan.
She received the SA Police Bravery Medal the following year.
In a recent incident, Community Constable Darryl Doolan
disarmed and restrained a man who, with an axe and a knife, had threatened to
attack an elderly woman.
Doolan was himself fortunate to emerge without sustaining a
stab wound. But, as he later led the man to a police car, a woman appeared and
struck him in the chest with a metal bar. He lost the man he had earlier
restrained, as the force of the blow knocked him to the ground.
Nonetheless, he arrested the woman, while other community
constables recaptured the man.
For his actions, Doolan was awarded the South Australia Police
Bravery Medal at the graduation parade of Course 49 last month. He was indeed a
worthy recipient. The Police Journal congratulates him.
