JOY Burch has awarded the ACT Community Protection Medal to five outstanding members of ACT Policing and the ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA).

“Today we are recognising five people who are the embodiment of commitment and dedication to the ACT community,” Joy said.

“They have demonstrated their steadfastness over a lengthy period of time, with the community benefiting from their dedication, so it is important that their service is formally recognised.”

“It is with great pleasure that I present the ACT Community Protection Medal to five noteworthy Canberrans today,” Ms Burch said.

The five recipients of this year’s ACT Community Protection Medal are:

• Station Sergeant Rodney Anderson of ACT Policing who has served the ACT Community as a loyal and dedicated police officer for over 25 years. He has trained in and developed and maintained expertise in the areas of Road Safety and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) at national and international levels as the AFP DVI Commander of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires and, more recently, the MH17 Aircraft Disaster in the Ukraine.
• Mr Toby Keene of the ACT Ambulance Service in recognition of his dedication to his service delivery to the ACT Community and the outstanding support he provides to other members within the ACT Ambulance Service. Mr Keen has served on both national and international deployments as Intensive Care Paramedic and has been deployed operationally on the SnowyHydro Southcare Helicopter.
• Mr Andrew Cahill of ACT Fire and Rescue in recognition of his dedication to service delivery to the ACT community and his passion to educate the community to become aware of fire risks. Mr Cahill has also fostered collaboration between Community Fire Unit Volunteers and ACT Fire and Rescue staff in the delivery of community education.
• Ms Pauline Wassall of the ACT Rural Fire Service who has served the ACT Community with sustained and distinguished service as a member of the Guises Creek Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade for 15 years. Ms Wassall is an active fire fighter, educator, and mentor and is a strong advocate in the development of the Women in Fire Fighting network and promoting recruitment and support of females within the service.
• Mr Anthony (Tony) Graham of the ACT State Emergency Service who is a founding Chief Officer of the service and has led the service and its members for over 12 years. In this time he has achieved continuous high quality, professional outcomes for the service in protecting, educating the community and supporting other services within the Emergency Services Agency.

Established in 2002, the ACT Community Protection Medal is awarded to members who have given sustained, distinguished or outstanding service.

They are awarded on a merit-based system, which is decided based on recommendation by a committee of industry professionals.