APASA committee member has emerged as the key mover behind a $1,000
donation to the Police Federation of Australia’s National Police Memorial
fund. Yorke Peninsula detective senior constable, Rick Day, secured
the sizeable contribution at the Kadina CIB annual Captain’s Night
on December 1.
The Christmas-drinks event drew its biggest crowd in 20 years: 170
community leaders, business people and police officers. And that crowd,
of mainly civilian guests at the Kadina Golf Club, contributed a total
of $6,000 to various causes through raffles and a charity auction.
Late in the evening,
Detective Day stepped up to the microphone to seek his guests consent
to donate to the PFA fund to build the national police memorial in
Canberra.
“I explained to them what the police memorial is all about,” he said.
“I spoke of the fact that there is going to be a South Australian
wing to it, to recognize the officers who lost their lives in the
execution of their duty in this state.
“I said: ‘With your permission, I’d like to put $1,000 towards that
memorial’, and everybody just clapped, and said: ‘Yeah, go for it;
great idea’. It was unanimous.”
A humble Detective Day said he knew the donation was “only a small
amount” compared to the $800,000 the PFA needs for the construction
of the memorial. But, as a strong supporter of a national monument,
he felt “a lot of pride” in presenting a $1,000 cheque to PFA president,
Peter Alexander, on December 16.
Delighted to accept the cheque, Mr Alexander said it had come as
a “significant beginning” to PASA’s fundraising efforts for the memorial.
“The Kadina CIB is to be congratulated,” he said. “And it was really
pleasing to see Rick, a member of the association committee, get involved
at a local level.
“It’s important that there be a sense of ownership by everybody
about the memorial, and that it’s not just left to the associations.
That’s why a fundraiser like the Captain’s Night is so important:
it gives that sense of ownership right across the membership.”
Detective Day conceived his idea to propose the police memorial
fund as a beneficiary after a PASA committee meeting, at which Mr
Alexander had spoken of various means of fundraising.
He (Detective Day) revealed his idea to no one, except his co-Captain’s
Night organizers, Detective Dave Leech and Kadina police station handyman,
Mark Southam, who gave their support.
Legacy and the Kadina Hockey Club shared in the $6,000 raised, as
did a YP schools programme.
Kadina detectives have independently financed and staged their Captain’s
Night each December since 1984, through the sale of bingo tickets
and with the support of local hotels. Officers put on the Christmas
soiree for, and to pay tribute to, YP business people who support
police.
It brought no financial return until its fifth year. Since then,
the Captain’s Night has raised $95,700, which the Kadina CIB has distributed
among various YP charities and organizations.
The PFA aims to raise its $800,000 as a one-third share of the $2.4
million cost of the memorial. The federal, state and territory governments
committed to provide the remaining $1.6 million after the PFA won
Prime Minister John Howard’s approval in 2001 to build the shrine.
Scheduled to be finished in 2006, it will stand on the banks of Lake
Burley Griffin in King’s Park.
Detective Day hopes to attend the first national Police Remembrance
Day service conducted at the new memorial in September next year.
“I think it’s fantastic to have it in the national capital,” he said.
“When all is said and done, it is a memorial to police officers who
have made our community a safe and better place in which to live.
In their own way, they made it possible for us to hold events like
Captain’s Night.”
- The name Captain’s Night evolved from the word “captain”, which
the CIB had used to refer to a detectives’ minder.
- Donations to the Police Federation of Australia National
Police Memorial fund are payable at the Police Credit Union
(account No. 5181464).
Yorke Peninsula boosts police memorial fund