Roger Sutherland has been retired for a year, but the pain of the Porepunkah shooting still feels extremely personal.
The 40-year veteran of Victoria Police says that for police officers, the job is more than a career; it’s a family.
“We bleed blue,” he told 3AW Melbourne radio this morning, “24/7.”
Sutherland recalls the flood of text messages he received from fellow officers across Australia following the news. “We all feel this,” he said, “we all feel it enormously.”
For Sutherland, the tragedy isn’t just about the officers directly involved. It’s about every member of the force, from the front line to the dispatchers, who must continue doing their jobs.
He says his daughter and son-in-law, both of whom work with the Victoria Police, have been impacted as well.
“This will be profound for VicPol,” Sutherland says, predicting that many officers, even those not involved in the incident, will feel compelled to leave the force.
He says there is a sense of profound exhaustion, a feeling that “enough’s enough” within the force.
For many, he says, this tragedy will serve as a breaking point, as members question the personal cost of a job that often feels unsupported by management, the media, and even the public.