Yesterday was Retired Police Day.
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The date honours those retired officers who have diligently served the community, and police stations across the state celebrated with their own activities and events.
In the lead up to the day, the NSW Police Force featured the stories of three of the state’s retired officers.
Among them was Deniliquin’s very own Roger Smith.
Roger and his wife Kay chose to retire to Deniliquin after falling in love with the community while stationed here on two separate occasions as an officer.
The couple first came to Deniliquin with sons Karl and Paul in 1970, where Roger served as Detective Senior Constable. They stayed for four years before Roger was transferred.
Another four-year stint at Deniliquin started in 1984, this time as a Senior Sergeant and in charge of the Deniliquin part of the command.
The Smiths made their way back to Deniliquin in 2004, 10 years after his retirement from the NSW Police Force.
The NSW Police Force has kindly shared its article on Roger’s career with the Deniliquin Pastoral Times. It is provided below.
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Growing up on a farm in Central NSW, retired Detective Chief Inspector Roger Smith APM was an accomplished horse rider.
Upon leaving school he became a stock agent that saw him buying and selling heads of cattle and sheep as well as wool.
Yet, Roger wanted to move to Sydney and have a more stable employment base.
After conferring with his stepfather - Superintendent Roy Elliot QPM - he applied to join the NSW Police Force.
While he successfully passed the entrance exams, Roger failed to meet the minimum weight standard of the day.
Undeterred, Roger applied twice more, but was still unable to achieve the required weight.
On this third unsuccessful attempt, Roger was pulled aside by the recruitment officer.
“The sergeant said to me that I was never going to meet the weight I was supposed to be,” recalls Roger.
“He told me that if I could ride a horse, I could join the Police Force via the Mounted Section.”
Roger didn’t hesitate and because of his background, he passed the riding test with ease.
Consequently, Roger was accepted and commenced his training at the old Redfern Police Academy with 92 other recruits.
At the time, it was the biggest class to go through the academy. The year was 1959.
He was allocated the registered number of 9290.
After serving as a mounted constable, Roger transferred to uniform duties at Regent Street Police Station in what is now part of the Sydney City Police Area Command.
Just two months later, Roger commenced detective training.
He was selected to work on the infamous Mutilator Case - one of the first recorded cases of a serial killer in Australian criminal history.
In 1963, 39 year-old William Macdonald was arrested over the killings and sentenced to life in jail, where he died in 2015 as NSW’s longest serving and oldest prisoner.
Roger later transferred to the Stock Squad, which at the time was based at suburban Enfield Police Station.
The role of the Squad was to mainly investigate illegal butchery and animal cruelty.
In the early 1970s he transferred to regional NSW, working at a number of different locations in both the Stock Squad and in general duties.
In 1988, he was promoted to chief inspector, performing the role of patrol commander at Bourke Police Station.
During this time, he was awarded the prestigious Australian Police Medal (APM).
Roger remained at Bourke until his retirement in 1994, after having served for 35 years.
Today, the 85 year-old lives in Deniliquin – a location that he worked at on two separate occasions while in the NSW Police Force.
When Deniliquin Police Station was rebuilt in 2018, the then commander - Superintendent Paul Condon - arranged for the conference room to be named in Roger’s honour because of his prior commitment to policing in the district.
Roger’s own son, Paul, joined the NSW Police Force in 1987.
He is now the Commander of the Murray River Police District, which encompasses Deniliquin Police Station.
In 2021 Paul himself was bestowed with the APM.
This is the only known case in NSW where a father and son have received the APM.
But it doesn’t stop there! Roger’s stepfather had been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal, which was the forerunner to the APM.
Earlier this year, the Smith family celebrated 110 years of combined service in the NSW Police Force.
Nowadays, the average academy class has about 200 students and registered numbers are now up to the 58,000 sequence.
Of the 92 fellow recruits who went through the academy with Roger, he is believed to be the last surviving member of that class.
Looking back on his policing days, Roger said “I thoroughly enjoyed it”.
“I had the opportunity to work with some wonderful police officers. I couldn’t have asked for a better career.”
Newspaper