Northern Beaches commander Dave Darcy retires: marched out after 38 years as police officer
He’s tackled everything from anti-social behaviour on buses to organised crime and changed the way night traders ran their business. But as Superintendent Dave Darcy hangs up his cap, he reveals the sliding doors moment that made him a cop.
Manly
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The peninsula’s top cop is calling it a day after 38 years in the police force.
Northern Beaches police area commander Supt Dave Darcy was marched out of Manly police station on Thursday, bringing down the curtain on a career that wouldn’t have happened were it not for a mate who had joined the force.
“I was doing a science degree and was going to be a teacher or a researcher,” he said.
“In my final year I’m looking down a microscope and my mate had been transferred to my home town, Morisset.
“He’d drop by and I quickly realised that jumping into a police car was far more interesting than looking down a microscope.
“I loved it straight away.”
After enlisting in 1982 and spending a stint in uniform, he transferred to criminal investigation roles and designated as a detective on the Central Coast before moving into Strategic Services, focusing on car theft reduction, community safety and crime prevention.
In 1995 he was back in uniform at Kings Cross before transferring to an executive support role during the NSW Royal Commission into police corruption and later to the Commissioner’s Executive Support Group.
In 1999 he was promoted to Inspector as commander of the City East Region’s target action group and anti-theft unit focusing on organised crime in the city.
He was promoted to Superintendent in 2002 and served at Kings Cross until 2005 and at Bankstown until 2008, when he transferred to Manly.
After the merger of Manly and Northern Beaches police commands in November 2013, Supt Darcy took command of the new Northern Beaches command.
“All areas have things that shatter people’s preconceptions,” Supt Darcy said.
“In the Cross, the sense of community in the backstreets is amazing.
“There’s a very strong sense of community, like a big country town.
“In Bankstown, the most lasting impression I got was of the Middle-Eastern communities busting a gut to be accepted and trying to be the best citizens you can imagine.
“On the northern beaches, the first thing that struck me was the number of people urinating in public.
“I never saw that in the Cross or at Bankstown.
“On my first night in Manly, we came across a young man with a kebab in one hand and his penis in the other.
“At Bankstown, he would have been arrested straight away but the officers in Manly told me they had to maintain a presence on The Corso and that if we arrested him, we’d have left The Corso unattended with the potential for young men to be injured at closing time.
“In the end, everyone walked away with a prize – we stayed in place on The Corso keeping people safe and he woke up the next day with a $500 fine.”
One of the high points of Supt Darcy’s time on the northern beaches was successfully tackling alcohol-fuelled violence in Manly – working with Manly Council, Manly MP Mike Baird and the licensees in Manly.
“The licensees thought I’d lay down the law but I didn’t – I offered them a different business model,” he said.
“We all recognised that safety was the number one issue.
“There was a common focus on that and that saw the licensees change their strategy.
“Previously they had been addicted to late drinking hours but, to their credit and with our encouragement, we got them to understand that a Mediterranean-style approach would be more profitable and successful.
“We got early lockouts and early closing in Manly.
“Now the licensees recognise that the Mediterranean approach to entertainment with food and alcohol is more viable.
“The beauty was that we did it with the consent of the licensees and Steyne Hotel owner Arthur Laundy played a huge role in that.
“The dividend on that was that we got control of the problem and it was done on a handshake.”
Another problem that raised its head was that of anti-social behaviour on buses, to the point that drivers described the northern beaches as the most dangerous place in Sydney to drive a bus at night.
“We hit that really hard and it was very effective,” Supt Darcy said.
“We got closer to the drivers and helped them exchange information with us.
“Last year we had a minor blip connected with the increased use of Xanax and Valium by young people that led to an increase in crime on buses but we hit it head-on and its now back to normal.”
Another success story has been in the fight against domestic violence.
“The attitude of police has changed over the years,” Supt Darcy said.
“In the early years there was a reluctance to get involved – it was between husband and wife – but there’s been a quantum change in how we look at it and the community is better for that.
“We put a lot of effort into improving services and I’m proud of where the Domestic Violence Team has taken that responsibility, including working with the women’s refuge.
“That’s been a story of success.”
Another seemingly never-ending curse is that of mental illness and suicide.
“It’s so sad but at the same time there is so much hope,” Supt Darcy said.
“Some of most satisfying experiences police can have is to get to people before they harm themselves.
“Sometimes I did it with other officers and sometimes by myself.
“The people all appreciated that we cared for them but it takes a toll on people.
“Obviously, the toll on the families is the heaviest but there’s also on emergency services.
“We do everything we can to help.
“If there is one legacy I can leave behind, it’s how we look after people better than ever before.”
But Supt Darcy said there have also been failures and none more glaring than drink-driving.
“It’s a perennial problem,” he said.
“I’ve never seen more drink-drivers than here on the northern beaches.
“We do everything we can think of to reduce it but it’s as high now as it’s ever been.
“We haven’t put a dent in that despite the effort we put in.
“There has been no shift in community attitudes.”
And just as police and other emergency service personnel have to deal with all manner of traumatic experiences, some events shock even the most hardened.
“The lowest point in my time here was the Manrique family’s triple murder-suicide in 2016,” Supt Darcy said.
“That was a tragic story on so many levels.”
“I think everyone was affected by that – it’s impossible not to be.
“Sometimes our job exposes us to a frequency and intensity of grief that no other occupation does.
“It’s OK to be emotional sometimes.
“If you’re not, you’re not human.
“The other really sad story was when a petrol tanker crashed at Mona Vale in 2013.”
Two people were killed when a petrol tanker burst into flames on Mona Vale Rd near Samuel St and six others were injured.
“The bravery displayed by complete strangers – under extremely dangerous conditions – was so inspirational,” Supt Darcy said.
But with a long policing career behind him, Supt Darcy has other projects to look forward to, including one that isn’t that different to riding off into the sunset.
He and a group of other motorcycling enthusiasts plan to ride from Sydney to the base camp of Mt Everest in China to highlight the need for greater suicide prevention among middle-aged men.
“Middle-aged men are the largest group of people who commit suicide,” he said.
“Something has to be done about it.”
And parting thoughts?
“Not many police commanders get the privilege of living and working in their own command for such a long time,” he said.
“The benefit has been extraordinary and I’ve been able to very effectively connect with so many in the community and together we’ve had some great achievements, particularly in the areas of reducing alcohol related violence in Manly, suicide prevention, youth crime, public transport safety and building a very strong emergency response for east coast lows and bushfires.
“We are blessed in this area with an abundance of people who care about their community and readily volunteer service it’s been a wonderful inspirational place in which to live and on retirement I’m not going anywhere.
“It’s been a great honour to lead the Northern Beaches Police Area Command and I leave with so many inspirational stories of outstanding police work from a group, 60 per cent of which have less than five years’ service.
“We are very lucky to have this group of police who genuinely care about their community.
“Policing is a contact sport, both emotionally and physically and you don’t survive without a good team.
“Sonia, my wife, and my kids, Alena and Michael, has been pivotal to me consistently putting my best foot forward.”