Following father's footsteps

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

While Sergeant Steve Raynor is adamant his son Sergeant Dan Raynor is a better police officer than he ever was, Dan maintains it is Steve’s example that inspires him.

After leaving school early to pursue a panel beating apprenticeship that didn’t work out, Dan was in his early 20s and sick of working in jobs that didn’t fulfil him.

Steve had suggested Dan might want a career in the army, but then Dan said he might follow his father into policing.

“Dad asked one thing of me,” Dan said.

“He said, ‘Do me a favour, go out and get some life experience. Go out, see the world, grow as a person and then join’.”

But at the age of 22, Dan applied anyway, making it through to the interview process before recognising he wasn’t ready and withdrawing his application.

“I was honest with them, I told them I didn’t feel I was mature enough to make the step,” he said.

“I had seen from Dad that it was never just a job.

“I think I realised at that age I didn’t want to be that responsible person all the time.”

Like with much of Dan’s career, Steve was not only proud of his son, but deeply admired his decision.

“That maturity to pull himself out of the process because he realised he wasn’t ready, with no guarantee he’d get back in again, it really amazed me,” Steve said.

Dan successfully reapplied years later and graduated in 2011.

Steve names the highlight of his own career as the moment he was able to present Dan with his police badge at his graduation.

Like his father before him, Dan worked at a mix of city and country police stations, including in and around Seymour, where their family lived for most of Dan’s life.

It’s now also where the father and son have the rare honour of sharing the same rank at the same station, both working as sergeants – Dan in general duties and Steve in family violence.

Throughout his time as a police officer, Dan has sought to follow the example of his father.

“Because Dad worked locally, when I started going to the local pubs at 18, I’d run into a lot of people who knew of Dad,” Dan said.

“They would say, ‘I ran into him one day. He’s a very fair man, a very fair copper and one of the best I’ve dealt with’.

“I lost count of how many times I heard that while growing up and it inspired me to want to be that kind of copper.”

But Steve has been sure to include his mistakes in the life lessons he has passed down to Dan.

“I lead by example, even if it is a bad one,” Steve laughed.

Steve took a break from policing for two years in the 1990s after recognising he had been putting his career ahead of his family.

“I was a bugger for putting the job before everything else, so I thought I’d put the family first for once,” he said.

After years of working as a detective, Dan had high aspirations to join one of Victoria Police’s top investigative teams, such as the Drug Squad or Echo Taskforce.

But then, with his own wife and two young children, he recognised some of the warning signs from Steve’s career.

“The harsh reality dawned on me that I was putting work before my home life,” Dan said.

“I didn’t want to become another statistic of focusing too much on my job, so I made the decision to come back closer to home.”

Now stationed as a sergeant in general duties at Seymour Police Station and raising his young family in the area, Dan continues to impress his father.

“He’s far more confident and competent than I am,” Steve said.

“He’s a better copper than I ever was, and I’m really glad to be able to say that.”

It was 1995 and Rob was working as the lone police officer at Gordon, near Ballarat, and he was cleaning the police car at the back of the station’s residence, with little Jade playing on a blanket on the lawn.

“I just nicked inside to grab something and I had only taken two steps inside the door when the siren on the police car started blaring,” Rob said.

“By the time I got there, the bloke at the milk bar next door was almost over the fence, saying ‘Rob, are you all right?’

“So, I think Jade was destined to become a police officer.”

After looking on admiringly at her father’s career in the blue uniform, Jade herself knew from a young age that she wanted to join Victoria Police.

“I’ve always really looked up to him,” Jade said.

“One memory that’s very vivid for me is when we were out shopping at the supermarket one day.

“Dad had all four of us kids there and we were just leaving when he bumped into an old work colleague.”

While they were catching up, another man at the supermarket’s service desk became verbally and physically abusive toward one of the staff members.

“Dad and his old workmate ran up and arrested him there and then,” Jade said.

“They proper tackled him to the ground and everything.

“I remember it very vividly that even though you can take the uniform off and go home with your friends and family, you can still make an impact on the community.”

Jade also recalls times seeing Rob on duty at AFL matches.

“Just watching him, even from afar, interacting with little kids and having a positive impact on the community, it’s something that really drove me into the job,” she said.

Jade graduated from the Victoria Police Academy in May this year and Rob had the honour of presenting her badge to her.

“Doing that is right up with walking down the aisle with my wife and the birth of all our kids as one of the proudest days of my life,” Rob said.

For her first general duties post out of the Academy, Jade has been assigned as a constable to Melton Police Station, the same complex where Rob is a popular, long-serving member of the Melton Crime Investigation Unit.

"When I was here for my week-long placement in the watch house in January, I tried to keep it on the down-low about who I was because I didn’t get here on Dad’s merit. I worked hard to get here on my own merit and I’m very proud of that,” Jade said.

“But it took not even half a day for someone to say, ‘Hey, are you Bobby’s daughter?’

“I think Dad loves the fact that I’m here, and I think I love it, too.”