Adam Victor CHILD
Adam Victor CHILD
AKA ?
Late of ?
“possible” relation in ‘the job’: P/Woman C M Child ( nee Doherty ) ?
Det Sgt Phil Child ( Liverpool ( 22 Division )( 1970s ) ) ?
NSW Goulburn Police Academy – Class # 26?
New South Wales Police Force
Regd. # 30369
Rank: Commenced Training at Goulburn Police Academy on Sunday 20 August 1995 ( aged 19 years, 8 months, 16 days )
Probationary Constable- appointed ? ? ?
Constable – appointed ? ? ?
Constable 1st Class – appointed ? ? ?
Detective – appointed ? ? ? ( YES )
Senior Constable – appointed ? ? ?
Leading Senior Constable – appointed ? ? ?
Sergeant 3rd Class – appointed ? ? ?
Sergeant 2nd Class – appointed ? ? ?
Sergeant 1st Class – appointed ? ? ?
Final Rank: = Detective Sergeant
Stations: ?, SCC Serious Crime Directorate ( Parramatta )( 18 Division ) – Homicide Squad – Death
Service: From 20 August 1995 to 1 August 2022 = 26 years, 11 months, 12 days Service
Retirement / Leaving age: = 46 years, 7 months, 28 days
Time in Retirement from Police: 0
Awards: No Find on Australian Honours
Born: Thursday 4 December 1975
Died on: Monday 1 August 2022
Age: 46 years, 7 months, 28 days
Organ Donor: Y / N / ?
Cause: Depression – Anxiety – Suicide – Firearm – Departmental Glock
Event location: Inside Ermington Police Station, 18 Lister Ave, Ermington, NSW
Event date: Monday 1 August 2022
Funeral date: Thursday 11 August 2022
Funeral location: ? TBA
LIVE STREAM PIN: TBA Email: TBA
( click here to see Cornona19 Virus Pandemic rules – this will be a limited numbers Funeral )
any Future Wake location: ??? TBA
any Future Wake date: ??? TBA
( Due to current Govt. restrictions on ‘Gatherings’ due to Corona19 Virus Pandemic, some families may wish to have a Memorial Service / Wake with friends and family at a later date )
Funeral Parlour: ?
Buried at: ?
Memorial / Plaque / Monument located at: ?
Dedication date of Memorial / Plaque / Monument: Nil – at this time ( AUGUST 2022 )
ADAM is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance * BUT SHOULD BE
ADAM is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance *NEED MORE INFO
FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ABOUT THIS PERSON, THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER AND THEIR DEATH.
PLEASE SEND PHOTOS AND INFORMATION TO Cal
May they forever Rest In Peace
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Police officer found dead at Sydney’s Ermington Police Station
An investigation has been launched after a police officer was found dead at a Sydney police station on Monday.
Death of officer at Ermington Police Station uncovers police force’s tragic crisis
The body of a police officer who was found dead at a station exposes a sad reality for some of the force’s most vulnerable victims.
The death of a detective sergeant in Sydney’s northwest exposes a sad reality gripping some of the police force’s most vulnerable victims.
On Monday, the body of a 46-year-old Detective Sergeant was found at Ermington Police Station at around 12.30pm.
It’s understood he was on-duty at the time. Authorities are not investigating his death as suspicious and support services have been offered to his colleagues, and other staff and officers at the station.
A critical incident has since been declared, as is standard procedure after the death of an officer. The investigation will be reviewed by the Professional Standards Command and independently oversighted by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), a statement from NSW Police said.
A report is also currently being prepared for the Coroner.
The death comes two years after the suicide of Sergeant Matthew Theoklis in November 2020. The father-of-two took his own life at the Sydney Police Centre building in Surry Hills.
He had joined the NSW Police in 2005 and was promoted to the rank of sergeant in December 2019.
Mr Theoklis was survived by his two twin daughters, Brooke and Sophie, as well as his fiancee Rebekah, who was also a member of the NSW Police Force.
At the time Police Legacy chairperson Detective Superintendent Gary Merryweather said the pandemic and recurring natural disasters had added extra pressures to the job.
“It can become very taxing emotionally and physically being a police officer and this year has been particularly hard,” he told 2GB’s Drive host Jim Wilson.
“As we know policing can be so difficult. You can go from tragedy to a job where you’ve helped someone and feel very satisfying.
“In circumstances where it’s not foreseen by anyone, it just makes it a little bit harder, and I’m sure the family just think it’s all very surreal at the moment.
“There’s just no other way to explain it.”
According to an ABC report from January 2019, four Australian Federal Police officers died by suicide at their workplace between 2017 to 2019.
The deaths prompted the introduction of stricter firearm rules, which required officers to provide sufficient reason before drawing their weapons.
At the time, AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin described the organisation’s former measures of addressing mental health as a “culture issue” within the force. However, he hoped that “through tragedy comes opportunities for us to learn,” adding that he hoped officers would feel better equipped to talk about and share their experiences.
“The old adage that police run towards the problem when everyone else runs away, that’s in our DNA, that’s what we do,” he said.
“So the idea that we should stop and take a break because we’re tired, because we’re fatigued, because we’re having trouble, is so foreign to police.”
In 2004, high-profile officer Steve Leach, 51, took his own life in a soundproof weapons storage room at Parramatta police station. As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, he was on sick leave when he entered the building and was discovered by another officer.
Detective Senior Sergeant Leach was celebrated as the prominent homicide detective who arrested serial killer Ivan Milat in 1994. He was also involved in the investigation into the 1986 disappearance of Bondi schoolgirl Samantha Knight.
Prior to his death, he had applied for his pension after he was hurt on duty while seconded to the European War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
According to his colleagues, his death was not expected, The Age reports.
The then NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney described his death as a “terrible tragedy”.
“Detective Sergeant Leach was a highly respected officer with 35 years experience and had been involved in some of the state’s most high-profile homicide investigations,” he said.
More than a decade onwards, the suicide of former police officer Ashley Bryant triggered a coronial inquest in 2017 which found that a post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and alcoholism brought on by the extreme stresses of his work were key factors in his death.
In December 2013, the 44-year-old drove to a national park in the Byron Bay hinterlands where he ultimately died. Prior to his death, the father-of-three had made a triple-zero call where told the operator that he was “about to take my own life”.
“I suffer post traumatic stress disorder … I can no longer live with the pain. I want this to go to the coroner,” he said in the record call that was played a this inquest,” he said.
“There needs to be more done, more things put in place for what happens.”
His death came a year after he was discharged from the police on medical grounds. Attempts to apply for a ‘hurt on duty pension’ also forced Mr Bryant to relive his traumas, before he was denied a full pension.
This was after two psychiatrists under the Police Superannuation Scheme determined that he could still work again, if he retrained for less stressful work, The Daily Telegraph reported.
During the inquest, his widow Deborah Bryant said the pressure of trying to apply for the pension exacerbated his PTSD, that led him to drink.
“It was the pressure of all the assessments that he had to undergo that made it too stressful for him that, unfortunately, led him back to alcohol. He never recovered from it,” she told reporters.
Startling research from Beyond Blue in 2018 also found that a first responder dies by suicide every six weeks. The mental health and wellbeing support organisation found that police and emergency services workers are more than twice as likely to experience high or very high rates of psychological distress compared to the general population.
Those who had spent more than 10 years in their jobs were also more than twice as likely to experience psychological distress and were six times more likely to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Hardened detective who was shot dead inside a police station is from a highly respected cop family and he cracked one of Australia’s biggest murder cases: ‘A steely determination for justice’
- Colleagues found Detective Sergeant Adam Child dead at Ermington station
- The accomplished cop has been remembered for his kindness in the role
- He was part of the Homicide Squad and had a hand in solving tough murders
- For confidential crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14
A top detective found dead inside his police station is from a highly regarded law enforcement family and solved some of Sydney‘s toughest cases in a two-decade career with the homicide squad.
Shocked colleagues discovered Detective Sergeant Adam Child dead from a gunshot wound inside a room at Ermington police station, in Sydney’s west, about 12.30pm on Monday.
The 46-year-old father, who worked in the force alongside his wife, has been remembered as ‘one of the finest humans and detectives’ by relatives of murder victims whose cases he helped solve.
Police do not believe Mr Child’s death was suspicious. He was on duty at the time and a police-issued firearm was used in the incident.
Friends and former colleagues have expressed horror at learning of the father-of-two’s untimely death and questioned what support services were in place.
‘I am just heartbroken. [Adam] was one of the finest humans and detectives,’ said one woman, who met Mr Child when he was assigned to the case of her loved one.
She added Mr Child would be remembered for his ‘compassion and steely determination for justice’.
He was publicly involved in the investigation into murdered mother Jody Galante, and was praised by her relatives for his kindness and dogged search for the truth.
The case was the subject of an Australian Story episode in 2008 which featured Mr Child, as he explained the steps he took to solve the murder and put Mrs Galante’s husband, Mark, behind bars for 27 years.
‘Adam Child and Anthony Agnew were so caring, they knew they were asking us to do hard things,’ Mrs Galante’s mother Julie-Anne Hand said at the time.
Mr Child had suspicions Mrs Galante’s husband was responsible for her death but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.
He asked her family to continue publicly supporting him while the investigation was ongoing to lull him into a false sense of security.
Almost two months later, he asked them to help clear out Mrs Galante’s daughter’s belongings from the house, noting ‘she wouldn’t be going back there’.
Following Galante’s arrest, the 27-year-old pleaded guilty to his wife’s murder and was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Mrs Galante’s family could not praise Mr Child enough for his work on the case.
The homicide squad in NSW leads the response to major criminal investigations, including murders, suspicious deaths, critical incidents and coronial inquiries.
Mr Child has been commended for his role in countless investigations over his 20-year career.
‘I’m so sick at heart right now, the ripple affect of the loss of Adam will be felt by many families today, his own family and the his family in Blue,’ one friend said.
‘It’s a very sad day. Adam was a good man and detective… Rest well brother.’
Mr Child was usually based at the Parramatta head office but was stationed at Ermington while working on an active investigation in the region.
A critical incident has been declared as part of standard procedures within NSW Police when an employee dies in the vicinity of other officers.
NSW Police said in a statement Mr Child’s colleagues and all officers at Ermington station will be offered support to deal with the grief and shock.
Mr Child’s death is the latest in a string of tragic police deaths in recent years.
Just two years ago in November 2020, Sergeant Matthew Theoklis died by suicide at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills.
Between 2017 and 2019, a further five Australian Federal Police officers took their own lives on the job.
A 24-hour trauma response hotline was established in NSW and 1,200 officers were trained as part of a state-wide peer support program.
Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au
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R.I.P…….Mr Childs
It reads to me Adam was there to help many people but unfortunate no one was able to help Adam. May Adam Rest In Peace and Adam’s family find comfort and understanding within. My thoughts are with you
We need a royal commission into the police force. The toxicity in leadership is at all levels.
Condolences to the family & friends.
Why do we always lose the good people too early ? I wish he had spoken to someone because he clearly is a man of ethics and hard work and a champion of the victims. He is the kind of policeman we always want to have in the force. So sad for his family of police, wife and children. We need to honour police more than we do, in a public way.
Spate of deaths in police forces across Australia
Critical investigation launched after on-duty detective, 46, found shot dead inside Sydney’s Ermington Police Station
A 46-year-old on duty detective has been found dead inside a police station in Sydney’s north-west.
A detective has been found dead inside a police station in Sydney’s north-west.
The 46-year-old detective sergeant was on duty when he was found dead by colleagues inside a room at Ermington Police Station about 12:30pm on Monday.
NSW Police revealed initial inquiries suggest there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
The Daily Telegraph has reported the man died after a “shooting incident” and early investigations suggest the officer was shot with a police-issued firearm.
Detectives have launched a critical incident investigation into the man’s death.
“The 46-year-old detective sergeant from a specialist command was on-duty at the time and initial inquiries suggest there are no suspicious circumstances,” a statement from NSW Police read.
“A critical incident investigation has been launched by detectives from South West Metropolitan Region, who will prepare a report for the Coroner.
“The investigation will also be reviewed by the Professional Standards Command and independently oversighted by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).”
Support services have been made available to the man’s colleagues, the officers who found him and those who were in the station at the time.
The death comes less than two years after another police officer took his own life at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills.
probably… seriously
Nothing further, than what is recorded above, is known about this person at the time of publication and further information and photos would be appreciated.
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Cal
4 August 2022
Updated 27 May 2026
Former Port Macquarie residents and now probationary constable, Craig Wilson & Todd Scott. Absent from the photo is Scott Russell.
Supremegsus, Hobart, Australia, 8 hours ago
RIP, sorry you couldn’t stick around mate! Sounds like you did a lot of good in your life! Thanks for being a good man, copper and Aussie! Thoughts are with family and friends in this extremely sad time!