NSW Police History Pt 3

Yeah we are at another post about the history of the New South Wales Police Force, we will start at 1945 when special constables were introduced to regulate parking in Sydney these officers were called Brown Bombers and later Grey Ghosts due to the colour of their uniforms. At the times the positions were reserved for disabled ex-servicemen.

I remember the Brown Bombers we had around Newcastle when I was a child.

1946 saw the Aviation Unit being formed the planes were fixed-wing ex-military planes, but the unit was disbanded in 1950 only to be reformed in 1979 and is now the Aviation Support Branch and they use helicopters not planes now.

1946 also saw a change in the uniform, with the introduction of the open tunic and tie, this was also the year that the Australian Police Journal was first published for the police under the auspices of various commissioners of police. The following year saw the Stock Squad formed.

The current insignia of the New South Wales Police was adopted way back in 1959, however, it wasn't displayed on the uniform until 1972. The Latin moto “Culpam poena premit comes” translates as “Punishment swiftly follows crime” this is the moto of the New South Wales Police Force.

The uniform changed again in 1961 when the long-sleeve shirt and tie was adopted without the tunic as the summer uniform.

1962 saw the century of the police force with 6139 members, 5336 policemen and 58 policewomen, there was also 175 police cadets, 5 police trackers, 4 police matrons, 109 special police parking officers, 30 special constables and 422 administration officers.

In 1964 members of the New South Wales Police Force were sent to Cyprus as part of a peace keeping force with the United Nations, members of the force continued in this role till 1974. Later on officers were sent to with the UN to Cambodia, Yugoslavia and East Timor, two members of the NSW while on UN duties have been killed.

The Vietnam war saw many police officers conscripted as part of the National Service, the war and conscription eventually saw the community and the police clash with the anti war movement at the time.

The first female commission officer in the force was in 1972, her name was Beth Hanley it was also this year that saw yet another change in the uniform with the insignia being shown on the shoulder flash of the uniform and the chequered cap being introduced, this still remains the service dress uniform of today.

A bomb blast outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney resulted in the death of one constable and two council employees, this was in 1978 when the regional conference of the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting was being held at the hotel.

The office of the Ombudsman was created in 1979 to oversee the investigation of complaints against the police force., the following year saw the first honorary police chaplains appointed, Father Jim Boland had been acting as an unofficially chaplain since 1972 and was later appointed to the first full time chaplain in 1986, he is now a regional police chaplain.

1980 also saw the first Aboriginal Liaison unit was formed about bloody time for far too long the aboriginal people were considered third class citizens. This lead to the creation of the Aboriginal Community Liaisons officers within the New South Wales Police Force.

In June 1987, the NSW Police Force (which had carriage of operations) and the NSW Police Department (which had carriage of policy and administration) were amalgamated. Today the NSW Police Force has 19,516 employees: 15,633 police officers and 3,883 civilian staff. We operate under the Police Act 1990 and the Police Regulations 2008.

Ok I have bored you all enough for today, so I will end this here.