After 15 years chasing crooks and keeping people safe, Waroona police constable Matt Lunny will be hanging up the badge before the end of the year.
The cop will be launching himself into a new professional venture, joining the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s drug and alcohol testing unit in New South Wales.
In his new role, const Lunny will trade the quiet country town of Waroona for busy airports and runways, targeting drug and alcohol use in the aviation environment.
He also plans to move into drone investigations in the future, looking at near misses between drones and aircrafts.
For const Lunny, who started his policing career with the Australian Federal Police in NSW, moving inter-state doesn’t mean starting from scratch.
It means going back home.
“We’ve had a few family tragedies and when you’re so far away it just reminds you that it’s time to be near them and that life isn’t forever,” he said.
“One thing Waroona and policing have told me is the importance of family.
“Christmases can be pretty lonely at times when it’s just me, my wife and my son.”
According to const Lunny, his new position at the CASA is an opportunity to spend more time with his family and avoid policing taking its toll.
“Living policing it’s always hard and I know that I won’t return to policing, this will be time for me to go corporate and the benefits for my family should speak for themselves in the months ahead,” he said.
“It’s a new challenge and it’s not stepping backwards, it’s more of a step sideways to launch again.”
After joining Waroona police in February this year, const Lunny and his family have become a familiar face to the local community.
On any given day it isn’t unusual to find him stopping cars along South West Highway, enforcing the 40km/h speed limit in school zones, or hitting the gym to stay fit.
Const Lunny, who also worked as a police officer in remote WA, said his time in Waroona had been warm and fulfilling.
“It’s probably been one of the best policing experiences in WA police for me,” he said.
“I’ve worked at Karratha, Kalumburu and all those places were great but the tie-knit team here at Waroona has been one of the most amazing experiences.”
He said he really enjoyed the station’s pro-active approach to crime, and, although the town faced some challenges, he believed the policing team would continue to keep crooks at bay.
“We are a really pro-active station and the leadership of sergeant Bennet here has shown us that you can’t just wait for jobs to happen, get out there and be pro-active,” he said.
“We hunt the bad people and you can’t hunt people if you are sitting in a police station.
“The boys here work tirelessly in the community to keep Waroona safe, a lot of their work does go unnoticed but they are working really hard.”
Const Lunny will hang up the badge in early December before moving with his family to New South Wales.
“I love what I do, I love what the job represents, but sometimes it’s not just about you, sometimes it’s actually about being a bit humble and accepting that sometimes there are more important things to life than locking up crooks,” he said.
Marta Pascual Juanola
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
