Respected cop leaves country station after 18 years at helm

Lindsay Kuhrt is ready for the next challenge after a long spell in Ipswich

Senior Sergeant Lindsay Kuhrt outside Rosewood Police Station. He will depart the country station after 18 years at the helm.

RESPECTED country cop Lindsay Kuhrt will depart Rosewood police station on Tuesday night after 18 months at the helm.

He’ll keep working hard right up until the last minute of his final shift at midnight.

“It’s an operational station so I’m basically working until I finish up,” he said.
“So I’m not slacking off, it’s business as usual for me right up until the end.”

Early in his career he had hopes of investigating the stealing and smuggling of exotic animals.

Lindsay Kuhrt receiving the First Clasp to the National Police Service Medal in 2016.

That never came to fruition but he has covered plenty of ground over the course of a rewarding 30-year career.

He has been promoted to Senior Sergeant and will now move on to a new post as district duty officer in Mackay.

Snr Sgt Kuhrt was sworn in as a police officer in October 1989.

After four years in Brisbane, he became the sole officer in what is now known as the Child Protection Investigation Unit in Gympie.

In 1997 he was promoted to Senior Constable and posted to Palm Island before moving to Oakey in 1999.

In 2002 he settled in Birdsville as the only person on duty in the biggest single officer police division in the southern hemisphere.

His beat covered about 56,000 square kilometres in Queensland and about 60,000 square kilometres in South Australia.

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Snr Sgt Kuhrt landed in Rosewood in 2003 and it’s in the small rural Ipswich town where he has stayed the longest out of any posting of his long career alongside wife Marina.

In 2015 he was awarded the National Police Service Medal, and the First Clasp to the medal for 25 years of service in 2016.

“We moved in originally for education standards for the kids,” Snr Sngt Kuhrt said.

“The kids all did their schooling down here.

“We just became entrenched and involved in he community.
“We got involved in quite a few organisations; football, pony club and the rodeo circuit.

“It just has a really good feel about it.

“I feel that in small country towns you can become more a part of the community and because of that people get to actually know you and therefore they become more comfortable talking to you.

“If there’s issues or dramas going on they’ll often come and talk to you whether it’s at work, at the IGA or at a sporting event.

Lindsay Kuhrt, former councillor David Pahlke and then Justice Minister Justice Brendan O'Connor in 2011.

“It just encourages more of a free flowing of information.”

Snr Sgt Kuhrt said he would miss the Rosewood station, where he leads a team of six other sworn officers, but he was ready for a new challenge.

His experience working in remote locations, particularly in Birdsville, either on his own or in a very small team would set him up well for his new posting.

“It’s a very, very big area,” he said.

“It’s a new challenge.

“I know the challenges police officers face in isolated posts whether it’s the distances they’ve got to travel and also having their back-up or support hours away.”

Snr Sgt Kuhrt said being able to make a difference in people’s lives was the best part of the job.

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“Victims of crime and victims of (domestic violence) you can actually empower them,” he said.

“There’s been kids that I’ve dealt with and years later I’ve had the parents come to me and thank me about the fact that I took the time to spend with their kids and given them, I guess, a little bit of tough love that’s resulted in the kids turning around.

“If I can change the course of one person’s life from a life of crime to becoming a productive participant in the community, that’s a big win for me.”

The move up north to Mackay will allow him to be closer to his three kids and grandchildren with the plan to eventually retire there.

“Our kids have either got intentions or have moved to sort of north Queensland,” he said.

“They don’t really have any interest or desire to come back to south east Queensland.

“We’ve got grandchildren so we want to be centrally located to them.”

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

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