Source : Perth Now news
A 20-year-old constable killed during a pursuit will be honoured alongside Victorian officers murdered at a rural property, as part of annual police remembrance commemorations.
Mia Lay had been on the force for 16 months when she died in a police car crash in pursuit of a stolen vehicle at Redfern in Sydney last week.
The promising junior constable will be honoured alongside others at NSW Police Force’s National Police Remembrance Day service on Tuesday morning, where 286 names are now inscribed on the state’s Wall of Remembrance.
In 2027, Ms Lay’s name will be formally added to the National Police Memorial in Canberra, where 832 touchstones are engraved on the memorial wall to represent the police lives lost since records began in 1803.
Four new touchstones will be added to the monument to mark this year’s Remembrance Day, including plaques for Victoria Police officers Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, who were murdered in Porepunkah in August 2025 while serving an arrest warrant.
The pair’s names are also engraved into the honour wall at the Victorian Police Memorial, alongside 176 other fallen Victorian officers, which Victoria Police deputy commissioner Bob Hill said “remain deeply felt across our organisation”.
“Every day, our officers deploy knowing full well that they may be required to place themselves in harm’s way to protect the broader community,” Mr Hill said.
Fallen officers Maxine Bembridge and Mark Bransgrove will also be enshrined with touchstones on the national wall in Canberra.
A detective senior sergeant in the WA Police Force, Ms Bembridge died in hospital days after a crash while she was driving to work on the outskirts of Perth on May 10.
Sergeant Bransgrove, who served NSW Police across almost four decades, died from a medical condition as a result of his duties in July 2025, eight years after retiring.
Remembrance services will take place in cities and regional areas across the country to mark the occasion on Tuesday, including a march to the Victorian Police Memorial in Melbourne and a NSW Police Force service at Sydney’s Domain
The National Police Memorial will hold its 20th service in Canberra, where a procession of 300 officers will march over Kings Avenue Bridge to a crowd of officers, families and members of the public.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush will read the Honour Roll of the fallen, and Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch will read the Police Ode as around 40 wreaths are laid in tribute.
The annual remembrance day was more than a reminder of serving officers’ dedication to protecting the community, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said.
“It is where we allow ourselves to forget time and never be numbed to the years since our heroes were taken from us,” he said.
Federal opposition leader Angus Taylor thanked serving police officers for their courage and commitment to keeping Australians safe, acknowledging the last 12 months had been a “testing time”.
“They have had to continue to contend with an unprecedented level of antisemitism, a heightened terrorism threat, organised crime, child safety incidents in Indigenous communities, and a spate of domestic and family violence,” Mr Taylor said.
