On Thursday, September 29, Queanbeyan police will be joined by ACT Policing officers to commemorate their fallen, including two from New South Wales who died on duty over the past year.

Police accountant Curtis Cheng was murdered in a terrorist attack outside police headquarters at Parramatta in October last year. Sergeant Geoffrey Richardson was killed on the way to an emergency when his vehicle hit a tree in the Hunter Valley in March.

The event will serve as a reminder of the dangers faced by police and police employees every day.

Sergeant Paul Batista, who organised the event, joined the police force 30 years ago. Now 50, he said the day is an opportunity to remember the sacrifices made by those who had gone before him.

“If you could talk to the police who have gone, I think they would always say two things: Look after my family, and don’t forget me. That's what I think they would say, so that's what we do,” Sergeant Batista said.

He said the present danger posed to those in the police force was very different from what it was when he first became an officer.

“It is absolutely a dangerous career choice,” he said.

“You’re exposed to a lot of things that nearly every person wouldn’t normally see or hear or do or smell.”

The terrorist attack on police employee Curtis Cheng at the Sydney headquarters brought home the modern dangers police face.

“It’s a different world to the one prior to 9/11,” Sergeant Batista said.

“It changed everything, and there is certainly a whole new way of policing. We’ve always got to be more vigilant.”

The National Police Remembrance Day dawn service will begin at 5.30am at Queanbeyan Police Station. To mark the 10th anniversary of the national memorial in Canberra, the dawn service will be followed by the largest display of historic police vehicles in Australia to date, including two 1980s XU Holden Toranas and two F100 paddy wagons.

The national evening service will be held at Kings Park in Canberra from 4.30pm and is set to be attended by the families of Curtis Cheng and Geoffrey Richardson. 

All events are open to the public.