BEFORE settling into the role of community ranger for the Grant District Council in the South East, Dale Millar served the police force in the Northern Territory for 14 years.
The series of events that led to Mr Millar joining the police force resulted from an infamous moment in Australian history.
Mr Millar worked as a mechanic for the police in the late ’90s and became friendly with police officer Glen Huitson.
Mr Huitson was shot on duty in September 1999 when criminal Rodney Ansell snuck up on him and his partner at a roadblock in the Northern Territory.
The injuries led to Mr Huitson’s death and the incident only occurred a few weeks after Mr Millar had worked with him.
“A few weeks earlier he had inspired me to join the police force as an officer,” Mr Millar said.
“He gave me the nudge to make the career change.”
Working as the watch house keeper in Darwin, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, Mr Millar said he was faced with different challenges over the journey.
“It was challenging because every day was different and the number of people in custody was very high on most days,” Mr Millar said.
“It was a bit like a revolving door, I had the same people arrested regularly and sometimes I had over 100 people in custody.”
Mr Millar said most of his prisoners did not want to be there, which made the job stressful.
“You would get people who wanted to fight and some would try to self-harm, which have led to times where the cells were covered in blood,” he said.
“I just had to be on top of the cell checks because there had been deaths in custody before, but I was lucky that I never had one on any of my shifts.”
Mr Millar found himself in the middle of the violence on occasions and as he tried to calm prisoners, there were times when he was injured.
“I have had my nose broken, I have been spat on and I have been bitten,” he said.
Despite several disturbances during his time on duty, there was one nasty incident on one New Year’s Eve which stood out more than any other.
“A fight broke out and I went into the cell to sort it out, but one of the blokes turned on me and I ended up tearing ligaments in my leg,” Mr Millar said.
“Pepper spray was deployed on about 15 prisoners in the cell that night and I was dragged out and taken to hospital to be operated on.”
Mr Millar said there were occasions where the pain was self-inflicted.
“During my role as an officer, I put my hand up to ‘ride the lightning’, which is when you get tasered with 50,000 volts of electricity,” Mr Millar said.
“Being shot not once, but twice with a taser for five seconds might not seem like a long time, but you lose complete control of your body and can’t move.”
While most prisoners required a watchful eye, Mr Millar said the job also gave him the opportunity to meet some high-profile people, including world champion motorcycle rider Mick Doohan.
“I have had some celebrities in custody, for example Mick Doohan was in there for headbutting a security guard once,” Mr Millar said.
“I got him to sign my helmet.”
Mr Millar was also faced with some interesting experiences with animals well before he became the community ranger in the South East.
“Once I had a crocodile walk into the car park and I had to put it into the cells for a significant period of time,” he said.
“All I can say is Darwin is a place like no other.”
Darwin continued to produce surprises for Mr Millar, particularly when he was asked to work at the annual “Hooker’s Ball” in the city.
“It would have had to be one of the most memorable shifts I have ever worked,” Mr Millar joked.
“The sights of what some people were wearing – some really extravagant outfits and the people with pretty much nothing on.”
After 14 years on the job, a 10-year service medal and a remote service medal, Mr Millar had seen enough and moved to Mount Gambier to be closer to his three boys.
“My boys mean the world to me and on my off days I used to take my boys out to Tennant Creek and I would stay out all night teaching them how to find gold,” Mr Millar said.
“All my other family still live up north, but I moved here to be with my boys.”
While Mr Millar now works a different job in Mount Gambier, he said working as a police officer in the Northern Territory taught him a lot.
“You can take the boy out of the bush, but you can’t take the bush out of the boy,” he said.
