Christchurch officers honoured
When Constable Mike Wardle was confronted point-blank with the barrel of loaded gun during a routine inquiry, all his training kicked in as he faced off the armed offender who had just shot two of his colleagues.
“We did everything right that day,” he says of the event. Constable Wardle was speaking after receiving a New Zealand Police Association Bravery Award along with his colleague former constable Marty Stiles.
The two officers were involved in an incident in the Christchurch suburb of Phillipstown in July last year, during which Senior Constable Bruce Lamb was shot in the face, his police dog, Gage, was killed and his colleague, Constable Mitch Alatalo, was shot in the leg.
Constables Alatalo and Wardle were conducting a routine search under the Misuse of Drugs Act, during which the aggressive manner of one of the occupants led them to call for backup. Constable Stiles and dog handler Senior Constable Lamb, and his dog Gage, responded.
The occupant refused to come out of his room. When Senior Constable Lamb opened the door, the man opened fire with a rifle, shooting him through the face. His next shot killed police dog Gage. The gunman then came to the doorway and opened fire again, this time hitting Constable Alatalo as the officer retreated, escaping from the house through a window.
While under fire, Constable Stiles grabbed his fallen colleague, Senior Constable Lamb, by the belt and dragged him back down the hallway towards safety. At the same time, Constable Wardle (then acting as Sergeant), confronted the gunman with a Taser. As he did so, the gunman aimed at Constable Wardle and pulled the trigger, but the firearm jammed. The officer fired the Taser, but it failed to incapacitate the offender.
To buy enough time for Constable Stiles to evacuate the wounded Bruce Lamb, Constable Wardle reloaded the Taser and continued to challenge the offender, who briefly retreated before again following the officers out of the house and down the drive while pointing his rifle at them. Constable Wardle provided cover for his colleagues while they retreated.
Following the officers’ retreat, further armed police arrived. The offender rearmed himself with a higher powered rifle, and was ultimately arrested by the Armed Offenders Squad.
The awards, which are the highest honour the Police Association can bestow on members for bravery, were presented to the two men during the Association’s annual conference by rugby legend Sir Brian Lochore. Sir Brian is a member of the Bravery Awards selection panel made up of police and representatives of the wider community. Senior Constable Lamb and Constable Alatalo were present for the ceremony along with the families of the award recipients.
Marty Stiles said that after he dragged Bruce Lamb and Gage out of the house and away from danger, he sent a silent prayer to God that no one else would be hurt, and now says: “I honour God for being faithful and protecting us . . . Things worked out a lot better than they could have been."
“I’m glad it was an extraordinary incident, not an everyday incident.”
Of the award, he said it didn’t feel like a brave day at the time, but it was nice to be recognised. He also thought of his Christchurch colleagues who worked during and after the earthquakes, and of the acts of heroism he had seen there on a daily basis.
Marty and his family are now living in Australia. Of his time with the Police in New Zealand, he said: “I’m always so proud to say I have been a member of the New Zealand Police because of the honour and integrity of the force.”
Mike Wardle said he had gone over and over that day in his mind. “I can still see him pointing the gun at me. . . I thought [after his Taser failed], if he comes down the hallway, I’m dead.”
But Constable Wardle emphasised that, under pressure, it was his training that came to the fore. His decision to face off the gunman was “just a reaction . . . we had a job to do”.
He said the officers had all received great support from Police, including counselling. He admitted that the incident had made him more wary, but “I love my job”.
“I will stay on the front line as long as I can. It’s what I was made to do.”
Presenting the awards, Sir Brian told the conference that a goal for the police was to gain and keep the respect of the people. The Bravery Awards went some way to reminding people of the difficult situations police officers will find themselves in and the lengths they will go to to protect life and property.
As Association President Greg O’Connor reminded those at the conference: “While members of the public can run away from danger, police must run towards it. The duty to act, to prevent harm to others, is one of the defining characteristics of policing.”
Because policing was a dangerous business, bravery was sometimes taken for granted, he said. “Acts of ‘everyday heroism’ can be too easily dismissed as simply being the actions of a police officer doing his or her job. Sometimes, faced with the need for decisive action, it can even seem there is a fear of criticism: criticism for acting too soon; for acting alone; for going too far; or for not going far enough.”
A culture of inquiry and risk-aversion could make police wary of taking action, but officers should not become tentative. “A tentative Police is an ineffective Police. That is why we believe it is so important to celebrate and honour the most outstanding acts of police bravery. The New Zealand Police Association Bravery Award is unique in that it represents recognition of a member by his or her peers and colleagues."
“It represents acknowledgment that, even though police set incredibly high expectations of themselves and their colleagues, sometimes an action goes far beyond all reasonable expectations of courage,” Mr O’Connor said.
Last month, Christopher Graham Smith, 36, was sentenced to 14 years jail for attempted murder of a police officer, wounding another officer and killing a police dog. He had pleaded guilty to the charges and also admitted cultivating cannabis, three unlawful firearms charges, one charge of unlawfully having a knife and two charges of using a firearm against officers who approached him after the shootings. Crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway told the court: “It is at the top end of the scale of violent offending, short of an actual death.”
Second year of Bravery Awards
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The NZ Police Association Bravery Awards were established to honour outstanding acts of bravery of Police, on or off duty. The award represents peer recognition of outstanding bravery.
