It was a formal ceremony with the Police
Commissioner, Ken Moroney and other officers in attendance with much braid and
many medals in view.
The
ceremony took place on the second floor. There was one humorous moment as the
Minister and Commissioner came out of the lift to inspect the guard of honour.
With a loud thud, the picture of the Queen crashed from its central place on
the wall onto the floor! Could it have been an omen?
The
Minister and Commissioner both acknowledged the work of Dennis Smith, the former
superintendent, in taking Redfern police from its old dilapidated station in Turner Street to
its new large premises in the Redfern
Towers.
It
was explained that the opening had been deferred in the hope that Dennis Smith
would be back at work and able to attend, but it seems that he is no longer
with the Force.
The
Minister and the Commissioner talked about the increase in the number of
officers at the station to its current number of 220. In April the Police
Minister and Kristina Keneally, the member for Heffron, visited Redfern to
announce that Redfern Station would get 10 extra officers. They arrived in May
from the graduation class from the academy in Goulburn.
The
NSW Upper House inquiry into Redfern-Waterloo expressed concern about the
number of young police attached to Redfern and, in July 2004, the Police
Minister announced a suspension of probationary constables at Redfern for a
12-month period.
However,
Superintendent Catherine Burn told the Herald that late last year the
Commissioner had conducted an inquiry into staffing levels at Redfern and,
after a trial allocation of three probationary constables, it was decided that
experience and youth were important to the staffing balance at Redfern Station.