Dads with their children. It’s a homely picture and one we can share due to thoughtful photographers, amateur or otherwise, who took the following images of Queensland policemen with their children. Prior to these images being taken however, married men were not accepted as candidates of the Queensland Police Force unless they had previous service with the military or police, and early editions of the Police Manual state “No man in the Police Force shall marry without the permission from the Commissioner.” To effect a marriage the policeman made application to wed to the Police Commissioner, and once approved the union could take place. Many historical personnel records confirm the arrival of children within one year, and occasionally before the expected nine month confinement date.
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is proud to employ the children of many respected, veteran Police Officers. All candidates must fulfil the requirements of the recruitment process with the QPS placing significant emphasis on physical and mental competency due to the high level of physical demands and necessary psychological characteristics required of operational police officers to satisfy inherent occupational situations. A long serving police officer recently stated at the swearing in of his son at an Induction ceremony, “I feel like I’m passing on the baton”.
There are many more historic images of policemen in the Queensland Police Service pictorial “Policing Queensland 1864 – 2014”. With Father’s Day this weekend, consider buying a copy. The book commemorates 150 years of policing in Queensland and are available for a short time from the Police Museum; numbered hard cover versions cost $50, soft covers are $35. Please have cash with you, as there are no electronic payment methods available. Email museum@police.qld.gov.au for further information.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available. The article was written by Police Museum Assistant Georgia Grier. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
“FROM the VAULT – Policemen with their children” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode