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Well-earned rest for Sergeant Sleep
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Editorial: Emily Wan
Photography: Grant Condon
During his 44-year career with Victoria Police, Sergeant Trevor Sleep worked on many criminal cases, but one in 1982, involving the attempted bribery of a Catholic priest, taught him a valuable lesson that he’s never forgotten.
“We convinced the priest to set up a meeting with this chap from Sydney who was trying to bribe him at a bank on the corner of Collins and Spencer streets in Melbourne, where he was going to pay him the money,” Sgt Sleep said.
“We sidled into the bank and as soon as we sprung the guy, he was out the door and we were after him. There was a big chase on foot right down Spencer Street through the traffic. We finally got him on one of the train platforms.
“I learned a lot from that job – don’t give a crook the opportunity to run!”
Sgt Sleep’s days of chasing criminals through the streets are now long behind him however, as he has just retired from Victoria Police at the age of 78.
The retirement ends his incredible stint as the force’s oldest serving member, a title he has held for at least the last decade.
“I’ve had an interesting career and covered a wide range of different duties. Not many members have done as much as I have,” he said.
Working across different departments over the years allowed Sgt Sleep to cross paths with both admirable and unscrupulous people.
“When doing bodyguard duties in the Protective Security Unit, I escorted former Prime Minister Bob Hawke to the 1990 AFL Grand Final when Collingwood beat Essendon,” he said.
Sgt Trevor Sleep is retiring after 44 years in the job. At 78, he was Victoria Police's oldest current serving officer.
As part of the Witness Security Unit, Sgt Sleep looked after high-profile individuals as Crown witnesses. Some were entangled in Victoria’s most significant crimes, including the Walsh Street police shootings and Russell Street police station bombing.
Receiving a Valour Award is Sgt Sleep’s proudest career moment, but one that is also bittersweet. While working as a constable in Broadmeadows in 1979, he responded to a “pretty traumatic” family shooting involving a nine-year-old female victim. Sgt Sleep himself was shot at that night and received the Valour Award for his bravery.
Proud moments have come in the later years of Sgt Sleep’s career too, and he highlights being invited to lay a wreath at the National Police Remembrance Day Service in 2016 as a privilege.
Although no longer in the force, Sgt Sleep still has a close connection with the job after he helped recruit his son-in-law Constable Geoffrey Ward less than two years ago.
“Geoff was looking for a different aspect of life and he loves it. He reckons joining the job is one of the best things he’s done,” he said.
Sgt Sleep is now enjoying his retirement after leaving Victoria Police, but after a literal lifetime in uniform, it’s unsurprising he still holds on to some behaviours developed through events like that 1980s chase through the streets of Melbourne.
“I still walk into a shop and suss it out straight away,” he said.
“Sometimes I’ll think, ‘That’s interesting, what’s that guy doing over there?’
“You can’t help it because once you’re a copper, you’re always a copper.”
