Peter Grahame John Kidd joined the Queensland Police as Constable 3560 on 29 April 1977. He served at the Traffic Branch, Banyo Station; Brisbane Mobile Patrols; as a member of the Brisbane Task Force and the Tactical Response Group.
The Star of Courage Citation reads: At about 5.30 a.m. on 29 July 1987 members of the Tactical Response Team raided a house at Virginia to capture a dangerous offender who was known to have been responsible for several armed hold-ups.
Senior Constable Kidd was the first policeman to enter the House. He lead an assault team through the living area and into the hallway towards the main bedroom.
Shots were fired from the bedroom but knowing that an armed man was in there Constable Kidd pushed the door open and went in rather than taking cover.
He fired at the offender who was in a corner and himself received three gunshot wounds, one to his right wrist and two to his body. He collapsed and later died in hospital.
By his actions Senior Constable Kidd displayed conspicuous courage.
Senior Constable Kidd was awarded the Star of Courage posthumously and it was accepted by his parents at a ceremony held on August 9, 1989. He was also awarded the Queensland Police Valour Medal for putting his duty before his life.
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The Star of Courage is awarded for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril. It is the second highest Australian Bravery Decoration. Only four Queensland Police officers have been in receipt of the Star of Courage since the award was established in February 1975.
Australian Bravery Decorations date from the establishment of the Australian honours system in. The Group Bravery Citation was added in 1990.
The decorations recognise acts of bravery by members of the community. There are four levels of decoration:
- Cross of Valour (CV)
- Star of Courage (SC)
- Bravery Medal (BM)
- Commendation for Brave Conduct
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.
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. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM THE VAULT: Star of Courage: Constable Rodney Edwards” 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