Pictured, from left, are NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, Annette Callister, Chloe Stier, Thomas Stier, Detective Inspector Greig Stier (New England LAC).
HE’S known about it for three months but Detective Inspector Greig Stier was finally presented with his Australian Police Medal yesterday.
The New England Local Area Command crime manager joined seven other distinguished officers to receive the medal at a ceremony in Sydney after the recipients were announced during the Queen’s Birthday Celebrations in June.
Having been in the job for 27 years you’d be forgiven to think Inspector Stier has seen it all. But he says he’s continually surprised by what he comes across and owes his success in the police force to his colleagues.
While he started his career in Maroubra, Insp Stier has served across the New England and North West region in one way or another since 1988.
He became a detective in 1993 and has since had a heavy hand in dismantling multiple criminal enterprises across the region and solving some of the state’s most gruesome crimes.
Most recently Insp Stier played a major operational role in the statewide hunt for Malcolm Naden and spent five months away from his family and his colleagues at Armidale Police Station.
He’s previously been awarded the Commissioner’s Unit Citation for his part in the police response to the 2007 northern NSW equine influenza outbreak and he was also awarded the NSW Police Medal in 2004.
But to the veteran cop, receiving the Australian Police Medal yesterday is the greatest honour of his career.
He took time out from murder trial proceedings in Newcastle to accept the award at Government House.
“It was a very humbling experience, it was nice to have family there for the presentation” Insp Stier said. “I didn’t realise what it all meant until today when I was sitting there with people from the community and the armed forces and to be presented the medal by the Governor-General with them – that’s when I realised what a prestigious award it is.”
Insp Stier said while his job brought him the “very best and very worse of human life” today was a good opportunity to reflect on the people he’s met during his career.
“Some of those people have been through the toughest times and you sometimes question whether they’ll ever get over the experiences you’ve seen them go through,” he said. “This isn’t all about Greig Stier, it’s about the people I’ve been fortunate enough to work with and I’m working with some really great people today.”
