Qld Police policy honours roll policy changed following years-long fight by son of missing cop
In a win for the little guy, a years-long fight by the son of a missing Queensland police officer has led to QPS changing their honours roll policy.
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Queensland Police officers who have died from work-related suicide will now able to be considered for inclusion on the police honour roll thanks to a decade-long fight by the son of a missing Senior Sergeant.
The change to the Queensland Police Service (QPS) Honour roll criteria followed a July 2020 finding by the state Ombudsman that the existing policy – which deemed personnel who have died by suicide as ineligible for inclusion – as discriminatory as it failed to recognise “some cases of suicide may be due to work related mental illness.”
The ombudsman investigation, spurred by a complaint, was just part of a years-long battle by the family of Senior Sergeant Michael “Mick” Isles, who disappeared in Far North Queensland while on duty on September 23, 2009.
The action comes as a win to the officer’s son, Steven Isles, who has been the catalyst for the change within QPS as part of his ongoing fight for recognition for his father.
“We’re 50 per cent there,” he said Thursday.
Snr Sgt Isles, a married father of three and Officer-in-Charge of the Ayr police station headed to Townsville for training he morning of September 23 but never arrived.
An abandoned police car was found five days later near Ravenswood, 80km from the Far North Queensland police station.
The then-58-year-old has not been seen since.
No body has ever been found, with family and many friends suspecting the popular officer met with foul play.
Coroner Michael Barnes “reluctantly” ruled the police officer’s suspected death a suicide during a 2012 inquest in Brisbane.
In an August 11 letter to Mr Isles, Deputy Commissioner Paul Taylor said the QPS Honour and Commemorative Roll policy had been reviewed and redrafted in line with recommendations by the Queensland Ombudsman.
“I am pleased to inform you that publication of the ‘QPS Honour Roll’ and ‘Commemorative Roll and Memorial’ online applications, in addition to the QPS Honour and Commemorative Roll Policy is due to occur tomorrow, 12 August 2021 at 10.00am,” he wrote.
“The publication of these documents through the external facing QPS web page, will provide community access to a modern and inclusive Honour and Commemorative Roll policy.
“The role you have undertaken to achieve this positive outcome is acknowledged.”
Mr Isles, 41, of Townsville said bringing the QPS honour roll policy in line with those of other states would also help other families.
“It’s a positive. Now we’ve got the Queensland Police honours roll shaped up to be consistent.
“Under the process that’s been implemented (other families) can now make an application for officers, like Russell Sheehan, to be included.”
Detective Senior Constable Russell Sheehan ended his life in 2015 after 33 years as a policeman.
A QPS spokeswoman said the Honour and Commemorative Roll policy was redrafted in line with recommendations by the Ombudsman and the implementation of the Human Rights Act 2019.
“As a result of extensive consultation with key stakeholders and the Queensland Ombudsman, the QPS has updated its Honours Policy to remove the blanket exclusion of deaths by suicide,” she said.
“Not only is this updated policy more inclusive, but it provides a clearer distinction between a member who was killed or died while on duty and a member who died while employed by the QPS.
“The QPS will consider each case based on the merit of the individual incident.”
In a letter to Mr Isles dated December 23, 2020, Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the new policy will “consider all circumstances of QPS members who pass/have passed away irrespective of the nature of their death.”
“I understand how important it is for the family, friends and our organisation to honour and remember them,” she wrote.
A justice of the peace and former Northern Territory police officer, Mr Isles said his father suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his 35-years in law enforcement, including being wrongfully targeted in a 2008 corruption investigation.
Snr Sgt Isles was cleared of the alleged misconduct on September 18, 2009 and had only returned to work on the Monday after being exonerated of any wrongdoing by then-Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson.
The Ombudsman recommended the Queensland Police Commissioner reconsider adding Snr-Sgt-Sgt Isles – and other officers – to the Queensland Police Honour Roll.
But, in the December letter, Commissioner Carroll wrote that Mr Isles would need to apply to have his father considered for inclusion.
“On implementation of the policy changes, the QPS would welcome an application from you with respect to your father which would then be assessed against the new policy by the State Honours and Awards Committee,” Commissioner Carroll said.
Mr Isles said the request was incredulous.
“After 10 f*****g years I’m stuffed if I’m going to fill out an application to ask to dad to be included when that’s what why we’ve been (dealing with this) the whole time to start with,” he said.
“If we do that then we removed everything we’ve achieved to this point because we’d have to recommence a brand new administrative process.
“It takes nothing less than a stroke of a pen to see the recognition of one of their own and who died on duty and deemed to have died in the carriage of his service recognised.”
The Isles family have battled for years to have Snr Sgt Isles – and other police officers who have died through PTSD-related suicide – included on the state and national police memorial that was established in Canberra in 2006.
Criteria for inclusion on the National Police Memorial declares cases of suicide were not eligible.
Though state and territory memorials were left up to the discretion of individual jurisdictions, until this week QPS followed the National Police Memorial guidelines to maintain consistency.
Names of police officers who took their lives following work-related trauma have been included on the NSW Police Wall of Remembrance since 2017.
In March, Mr Isles lodged an application in the Supreme Court of Queensland for a statutory order of review as part of the family’s ongoing campaign for his father.
The application claims Queensland’s Police Minister Mark Ryan and Commissioner Carroll “failed to decide” on a proposed decision to include Senior Sergeant Mick Isles on the honour roll in 2011.
A hearing is scheduled for September 20 in Townsville’s Supreme Court, but in a letter to the Ms Carroll on Friday, Mr Isles said he was willing to cancel the case if the their battle could come to an end.
“Commissioner Carroll, if you were to now finalise the proposal made 10 years ago by then Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson for the Queensland Police Service to recognise my father policing veteran Senior Sergeant Michael Isles, who disappeared on duty and is deemed to have died in the carriage of his service, there would be grounds to request the Queensland Supreme Court trial be vacated and both the changes which I have advocated for over a decade and the rightful Queensland Police Memorial recognition of my father could conclude on a relatively positive note for all parties involved,” he said.
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