Sergeant Gary Hamrey still bears scars after being shot in the face at Arundel Tavern

GARY Hamrey was just millimetres away from making the ultimate sacrifice to help keep Queensland safe when he was shot in the face while on duty.

GARY Hamrey was only a matter of millimetres away from making the ultimate sacrifice to help keep Queensland safe.

The boss of the Gold Coast police dog squad was responding to an armed robbery alarm at the Arundel Tavern in September when he was shot in the face.

The bullet, fired by a bandit wielding a .22 rifle, went through his cheek and exploded out of his skull behind his ear.

After several operations the scarring has almost disappeared, but Sergeant Hamrey will never forget the night he almost died.

“It’s still very clear in my mind and it probably always will be,” he said. “A couple of millimetres either side and it could have been disaster for me.”

It happened on Police Remembrance Day, and two years after Gold Coast detective Damian Leeding was shot dead responding to a hold-up at the Pacific Pines Tavern.

Sgt Hamrey returned to light duties at work just two months later and by the end of last year he was back to full duty.

He has been nominated for a heroism award in the Pride of Australia medal.

However, he shrugs off suggestion he is a hero.

“It might be seen as brave, but it’s just what we do,” he said.

“I was just doing my job.

“Yes, it’s a dangerous job but we don’t really look at it that way. Most of us love the work.

We get to play with our dogs all day and go around catching crooks.”

A career cop who joined the Queensland Police Academy in 1977, Sgt Hamrey now has an adult son who has also joined the police service.

The alleged offenders from that night at the Arundel Tavern were arrested a short time later and are behind bars awaiting trial.

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