By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A FORTNIGHT ago Phil Byrne stood during the Remembrance Day service in Narre Warren North and paid his silent respects to the fallen and those still serving.
The Senior Sergeant at the Endeavour Hills police station has seen first-hand the sacrifice made by Australian soldiers.
In 2000 Sen Sgt Byrne spent eight months in East Timor as a military liaison officer when Indonesia withdrew from the country.
The 50-year-old was one of only a small number of Victorian coppers chosen to work there, with the Australian Government recruiting about 30 policemen from each state.
When Indonesia withdrew from Timor, Sen Sgt Byrne said they took everything with them, including infrastructure and police officers.
“It was a pretty violent place, because there were a lot of militias still operating within East Timor that were sympathetic to Indonesia that I don’t think really wanted to pull out,” he told Star News.
“So the United Nations actually stepped in … and as a result they needed a police force in place during the transition.
“The Federal police couldn’t deal with the numbers required to go over there so they asked the various state government police forces to contribute.”
While his service in East Timor qualified Sen Sgt Byrne for the Anzac March, the copper says his work paled in comparison to those Australian soldiers heavily involved in conflict.
“I got first-hand experience of what Australian and New Zealand soldiers were doing overseas and how dangerous it really was for them,” he said.
That’s not to say Sen Sgt Byrne wasn’t involved in his own “hairy situations” while in East Timor.
Working as a liaison officer he spent a lot of time with the military overseeing border checkpoints, as displaced East Timorese residents returned to their country.
On his second last day there Sen Sgt Byrne found himself on one side of a dirt track in the “middle of nowhere” – the border – without Australian army support, while the Indonesian army stood on the other side.
Gum trees near the track reminded the cop of home.
“My interpreter, who traditionally didn’t like the Indonesians, had an exchange in their own language with them and one of the Indonesian military had a very old lady standing next to him and hit her in the head with the butt of his rifle, on their side of the border,” he said.
“My interpreter went nuts, verbally, and all the Indonesian military raised their rifles at us and I’ll never forget – I was with a 20-year-old young Federal policeman from Canberra and I looked at him and said it’s our second last day and we’re gonna die here.”
After a four minute stand-off with guns raised on both sides, only the eventual presence of a military helicopter saw everyone lower their weapons.
Despite the drama, Sen Sgt Byrne’s involvement in East Timor is one of the highlights in a career that will reach 25 years in March.
It’s one that has seen him work stations in Fitzroy, the CBD, Mount Waverley and now Endeavour Hills, which have all had their own challenges – some bigger than others.
It’s a little over a year since the tragic death of Numan Haider. The 18-year-old was fatally shot outside the Endeavour Hills police station after attacking two police officers.
But the head of the station draws on a steely resolve when dealing with his work.
“I love this station,” Sen Sgt Byrne said.
“I’d like to think we’re like a family, especially considering what’s happened here over the last 18 months with the incident out the front, it’s sort of gelled us.
“And that’s been my focus, we’ve got to ensure the community is safe but part of my job is to ensure my staff are healthy too.
“And I think to date I haven’t done too badly.”
