Condemned so often to the mundane and the merciless grind of the ugly belly of crime and everyday life, this week’s dramatic ending to the rural rampage of father-and-son fugitives Gino and Mark Stocco has turned the spotlight on policing again.
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So often caught in the criminal circus of petty crime or the horror and ceaseless cycle of domestic violence, for many northern police there must have been a surreal sense of life in the fast lane as they, along with many others, watched the events of the Dunedoo last stand unfold.
It was a great outcome and a fitting conclusion to some escapades that had turned a media and public focus on a police hunt that took on a spurious television gloss.
For many northern police there were frontline and tactical roles to be played, and while they mightn’t claim the glamour of the final catch, certainly they were there when the chips were down and the crucial incident scenes had to be set.
While our cops go to work each day not knowing the reality of their day, and in full command of the dangers they face, sometimes scenes like the Stocco stockade, so to speak, provide just that little bit extra of real achievement.
New England superintendent Fred Trench, based out of Armidale, led the operation and co-ordinated the arrest. He was the operational commander in terms of the capture.
Long-time Tamworth police boss Clint Pheeney, in his role as acting assistant commissioner, faced the media to explain it all.
A small army of others, not identified and certainly crucial and critical to an operation that effectively became a manhunt-to-murder case, also came out of the northern police ranks.
Their job done when the Sydney tactical troopers took over, they’ve returned to Tamworth and Armidale to resume what they do most days.
And like the mythical mysteries that surrounded another bushranger-type crim accused of murder while on the run – Malcolm Naden – there should be no mistaking the way we might have romanticised this drama.
Clint Pheeney was succinct in playing it straight yesterday.
The men at the centre of such a manhunt were travelling conmen originally – and there’s nothing romantic about breaking into people’s homes, damaging their property, setting fire and stealing their goods.
Like Naden, they appeared consummate bushmen, familiar with where they were and how to get to where they wanted without revealing their identities.
Like Naden, they were caught by coppers dedicated to the job, who unlike the perpetrators are often faceless and thankless.
