Brevet sergeant Jason Doig, killed on duty in 2023, honoured at South Australia police funeral in city on December 4
Police officers and the public fomed a guard of honour along North Terrace, Adelaide city, for the police funeral on December 4, 2023, at Adelaide Convention Centre of brevet sergeant Jason Doig, killed in an incident in South Australia's southeast. Bottom right: A sticker remembering Doig's service.
Images courtesy ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News, Adelaide
South Australians honoured “legendary country cop” Jason Doig at a police funeral at Adelaide Convention Centre on Deeember 4, 2023, with a guard of honour along North Terrace by police and public and flags flying at half mast in the city centre.
Blue lights had shone on buildings across Adelaide, including police headquarters, Adelaide Oval, parliament house and Adelaide Town Hall in honour of brevet sergeant Doig. Based at the southeast town of Lucindale, Doug was shot dead while responding to call to a rural property in Senior, near the Victorian border, on November 16. Sergeant Michael Hutchinson was also wounded. A third officer, constable Rebekah Cass, also attended to the injured officers and the suspect, who was shot by police.
This episode followed the stabbing of two officers in May 2023 during a call to a home in Crystal Brook in South Australia’s mid north.
At the funeral for brevet sergeant Doig, attended by friends, family members, dignitaries including the governor Frances Adamson and police colleagues, acting police commissioner Linda Williams remembered Doig as a police officer who had an unwavering dedication to his community and a kind and empathetic nature: “Jason was regarded by many as the quintessential bloke who embodies what it means to be a country police officer … kind, caring, generous and unique.”
Doig joined the police academy at 19 in 1989 and served the past 12 years as the officer in charge of the Lucindale police station. Originally from Victoria, he had a long affinity for country policing and was known for his willingness to back up and cover his colleagues: “It was this team-first attitude and willingness to travel to assist members that saw him attend the incident in Senior,” Williams said.
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas said that, while the funeral commemorated the life of an officer killed in the line of duty, it also provided an opportunity to acknowledge the risks taken by the 4,000 officers who "put themselves in harm's way" to protect the community. He said it had been a traumatic period for South Australian police, brevet sergeant Doig's death only hours before a road incident killed Charlie Stevens, son of police commissioner Grant Stevens. The state government announced it would donate $100,000 to Women's Safety Services South Australia in honour of brevet sergeant Doig.
In May 2023, brevet sergeants Ian Todd (from Port Germein police station) and Jordan Allely (Crystal Brook police station) were stabbed at a Crystal Brook home after checking on complains about a dog barking. Todd was rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital with life-threatening injuries after being knifed in the neck, hands and arm by his attacker, who was shot dead. Allely also was hospitalised. Both officers, who recovered, had family members who worked in the policing community in South Australia.
