Leading Senior Constable Roland Jones was presented with the Victoria Police Medal for courage last week, the highest medal for police bravery in Victoria. Over the years, it has only rarely been granted for exceptional courage, as with Leading Senior Constable Jones.
This award recognises his courage in arresting James Gargasoulas after he drove his car through the crowded streets of Melbourne, deliberately killing six and injuring twenty-seven people in Bourke Street on the 20th January 2017.
His citation reads in part.. ‘immediate and decisive action’ by Jones. Pity, the police executive didn’t act that way in this incident.
At significant personal risk, Jones effected the arrest of Gargasoulas and wrote himself into the annals of Police history as one of the force’s true heroes.
This is a great story, but there is a cruel twist within it.
You will note that this horrible event occurred in 2017, but he was not awarded his medal until 2025. The Citation accompanying the Medal was signed in 2021.
The Gargasoulas incident was one of the darkest chapters of incompetent leadership in Victoria Police’s history and was severely compounded by the treatment of Jones, post-event.
The whole incident evolved over the two days. Police knew for that period where Gargasoulas was at all times. Still, not only did the police not take any action against the perpetrator, but they monitored his bizarre behaviour, not intervening. This meant that Police communications covered the activity; however, there did not appear to be any intervention of the Police Command in this unfolding tragedy.
It was left to the troops, bereft of leadership and therefore coordination, critical components in responding to this type of incident.
After the mayhem of the incident with dead and dying victims scattered along Bourke Street, it was Leading Senior Constable Jones and his partner who put an end to this mayhem.
Not that they were directed, as there was no command and control, but they were purely exercising their initiative.
Their actions were pure bravery, whereas many other police, including command, dithered and procrastinated and in many ways, through their failures, were responsible for the death of six innocent Victorians and injury, some very severe and life-changing, to twenty-seven others.
Thirty-three victims were caused by police leadership’s incompetence.
The bravery award recently presented to Jones was unquestionably well deserved. However, the award took eight years to be presented, and without a reasonable and plausible explanation from VicPol, the delays can only be interpreted as malicious pettiness at the most senior levels.
That is a disgraceful way to treat Force heroes, and it may go some way to explain why morale in VicPol is so low, as reflected in the decline in community confidence.
Low Police morale correlates directly to the quality of service delivery.
We need people with good morals and strong courageous character like Pete Hegseth and JD Vance to be leaders of VicPol to bring VicPol back to humanity.
However, this is not possible unless our state government is One Nation and our state premier is someone like Warren Pickering.
VicPol is a reflection of the type of state government that we have. These two institutions go hand in hand.
A well deserved award I’m sure, however not worth accepting so long after the event…
The last thing that a government with an agenda of totalitarian rule want in any institution or bureaucracy is people who are brave, can make decisions on the run and who have integrity. Gratitude and well deserved congratulations to Leading Senior Constable Roland Jones. So sad that so many good people are currently being crushed by the most corrupt and amoral government most of us can remember. I think the NSW Inspector who did similar outstanding work got her accolades and awards fairly quickly……..Shame indeed Victoria.
I am still waiting on the one John Frame promised in 1990.
Congratulations to Senior Constable Jones for his bravery and fulfilling his 1st oath of office of Protection of Life. His award is particularly poignant given the lack of attention to that same oath from the leadership by Police Command on that day.
I recall that there was always an offence of Criminal Negligence at Common Law and further recall the Police Regulations carried an offence of incompetence from causes within your own control. Given the deaths and injuries, one must ask; Why was there never one senior officer charged with such an offence or offences.
Clearly, & as revealed in the Coroner’s Inquest, there were several opportunities in the days following his release on bail, when the perpetrator came to Police attention and should have been arrested again for reoffending in the days leading up to this tragedy. Sadly this did not happen and the rest is history.
It is a disgrace and reflects badly on Police Command and Government at the time for failing to publicly acknowledge and praise the heroic actions of the above-named officers who prevented further tragedies at the hands of this perpetrator.
An inquiry should also be held into why these well deserved awards were withheld so long and by whose instruction.
Clearly, & as revealed in the Coroner’s Inquest, there were several opportunities in the days following his release on bail, when the perpetrator came to Police attention and should have been arrested again for reoffending in the days leading up to this tragedy. Sadly this did not happen and the rest is history.
It is a disgrace and reflects badly on Police Command and Government at the time for failing to publicly acknowledge and praise the heroic actions of the above-named officers who prevented further tragedies at the hands of this perpetrator.
An inquiry should also be held into why these well deserved awards were withheld so long and by whose instruction.
This is a typical example of how members of the force are ignored, mistreated and left in doubt as to where the true allegiance should lay.
The mental health and well being of members is not within the forefront of Force Command.
Smacks of another xample oof which i have learnt where a veteran has been waiting ten years for the final certificate of service. All because of an unresolve complaint which any deent detective could resolve within a month, not ten years.
Instead of acting to preserve the dignity of the veteran the powers that be havent the sense to take action. No wonder attrition rates are climbing.
The Victoria Police Valour Award is actually the ‘the highest medal for police bravery in Victoria’ that VicPol award.
True Heroism above and beyond the call of DUTY. Police Command are a disgrace and should be held fully responsible for not acknowledging such presence of mind of Senior Constable Jones.
I am sure that LSC Jones would be the first to acknowledge that there was a ‘team’ of officers and first response personel doing their best to resolve what confronted them on 20 January, 2017. Many of those others were also recognised for their actions some years ago – still far too long after the incident.
The selective and untimely way in which this was done is unfortunate and reflects poorly on VicPol.
The problem was indeed the lack of leadership and the inability of senior command to take responsibility.
It seams that their priorities are more in line with spending millions of the taxpayers dollars to persecute good officers who are doing their jobs properly.
It is never mentioned, and there is no recognition of the utter destruction that this behaviour causes to the families of the officers they target. That is, the families that support the officers – an expectation of VicPol that doesn’t appear on the recruiting posters and is neither understood nor acknowledged.
One of my hopes arising out of the appointment of the new commissioner is that he will immediately take an in-depth 10 yr look at recommendations that have been made by organisations such as IBAC and the ombudsman and take action to ensure that such recommendations have been appropriately and competently followed up.
In line with that, it is not appropriate for PSC to investigate ‘their own’, and it is PSC that have caused a LOT of damage to competent officers and their families. Vic Pol needs to weed out the corrupt and incompetent. It is time that all officers, particularly the leadership upheld their service to the community. Policing is not for those who want to ‘get notches on their belts’ and climb the pole of promotion.
sounds a lot like ‘spite’, a trait most commonly associated with—or to come at it from a ‘safer’ angle, not associated with—a masculine culture if you catch my drift
Mate, I got mine in 2017 – from an incident that occurred in 1992! Only because some people who cared advocated for me.