Ronald Norman STEER

AFTER Ron Steer retired from more than 40 years involvement with the police force he did not expect continued involvement with law enforcement and the justice system.

But a decade on after his retirement he is finding satisfaction and fulfilment as a mentor and being part of the youth conferencing process.

Mr Steer grew up in Sydney and at the age of 16 decided to follow the example of a cousin and choose the police force as a career. He joined the force as a cadet and for three years worked alongside trained officers as “a bit of a roustabout”.

“It was on the job training, working in traffic and around the office and picking up the mundane jobs,” he said.

Aged 19 and then a fully-fledged policeman he “went bush” to Harden as the manager of the Police Citizens Youth Club.

“It was a vibrant railway town back then,” he said.

“We had a lot good young kids involved with football and boxing.”

His next posting in the force was a transfer to Broken Hill for a two-year stint and a step up the promotion ladder.

He admitted it was a case of extremes moving from Harden to a strong industrial town in the far west of the state.

His next posting was to Ivanhoe for a four-year stint.

“It was a good town then,” he said.

He then took a posting at Wilcannia as a senior constable, the first of two five-year stints in the town.

After his first posting at Wilcannia, he and his family moved to Moree where he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and was the “lock-up keeper”.

Another promotion to second class sergeant and a move to Lake Cargelligo followed where he was officer-in-charge for a five-year spell.

A phone call from the then police commissioner put Mr Steer on the path of his greatest policing challenge.

“There was a death in custody in Wilcannia and the commissioner asked me to go back as the officer-in-charge,” Mr Steer said.

“It was the greatest challenge of my career,” he said.

Mr Steer said all of the staff at the Wilcannia station were replaced and his team was made up of young officers in their early 20s without much experience.

“We started from scratch,” he said.

“The advantage for me was I’d been there before but we had to get back to community-based policing.

“Talking to people face-to-face, foot patrols getting involved with the youth and the football club.

“It was daunting for the young police who were aged between 19 and 21 years who hadn’t been around for long.

“It was a different world in Wilcannia.”

After a five-year posting at Wilcannia, Mr Steer was commissioned as an inspector and took a posting in the Upper Hunter at Muswellbrook.

He admitted he found life across the eastern side of the Great Divide less to his liking and before long he and the family moved west when he was promoted to chief inspector and the officer in charge at Walgett. His daughter still lives in Walgett working in child care.

After Walgett he was posted to Dubbo where he worked until retiring after 38 years as a commissioned officer in the NSW police Force.

His efforts during his second posting in Wilcannia earned him an Australian Police Service Medal.

He said in the decade since retirement he was almost “back full time” working in the youth justice system, mentoring and working one-on-one with young people in strife with the law.

“I do a lot of one-on-one mentoring with kids in the Staysafe system,” he said.

“It’s hard for kids today to come to terms with the real world.

“I enjoy working with them.”

Mr Steer said retirement for him was not about just sitting around all day.

“That’s a disaster and you can’t be forever packing a suitcase and moving around. ”

He said it was about finding a balance, and working with young people in trouble was proving fulfilling and rewarding.

editor.liberal@ruralpress.com