Family, friends and colleagues are coming together to salute a veteran officer who was gunned down just days away from retiring, as the hunt for his alleged killer continues.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson will be farewelled with full police honours at a funeral at the Victoria Police Academy on Monday.
The 59-year-old was one of two Victoria Police officers killed on August 26 while serving a warrant on Dezi Freeman on a property in Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne.
Neal Thompson was just weeks away from retirement. Source: Victoria Police
The officer was looking forward to spending more time with the love of his life, Lisa, and already had a list of tasks to tackle in his free time.
His partner, with whom he built a home, will be among the mourners expected to pack the on-site chapel at the academy in Melbourne’s east to remember the man affectionately known as Thommo.
Det Lead Sen Const Thompson deserved the life he had planned for after his policing career, state police union boss Wayne Gatt said.
“That, after 38 years in the job and on the cusp of retirement, he made the decision to put others before himself, is a measure of the man we’ve lost,” Mr Gatt said.
“Neal was often the light side of an at-times dark profession. A character, a mainstay and a comfort to many.”