Eight Queensland Police Service officers have set off on the annual Wall to Wall Ride for Remembrance to Canberra in honour of officers who have fallen in the line of duty.
This year, the names of Queensland officers, Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow will be added to the baton and immortalised in Canberra at the National Police Remembrance Memorial.
The baton, a hand-crafted wooden style classical police accoutrement engraved with the wording ‘We remember them’, houses a scroll which bears the names of serving policing officers who have died while on duty within the calendar year.
Commencing at the Queensland Police Memorial at the City Botanic Gardens on Alice Street in Brisbane, eight Queensland Police Service (QPS) motorcycle riders embarked on their journey to deliver the symbolic Queensland Commissioner’s baton to Canberra.
Commissioner Katarina Carroll spoke of the annual, recurring hope for the riders to bear an empty baton, symbolising no deaths within that year.
“Each year, it is my hope to hand over an empty baton to the team and I am deeply saddened when it contains a name of a fallen officer,” she said.
“This year’s baton is tremendously heavy, bearing the names of two of our officers, Constable Arnold and Constable McCrow.
“We pay our respects to them both and remember them for their bravery, alongside all those whose loss is still felt by their families, their friends and the wider police service.”
Tragically, this year’s Queensland baton will feature the names of both Constable Arnold and Constable McCrow who lost their lives at Wieambilla on December 12, 2022.
Established in 2009, the annual ride attracts more than 2,000 riders from across Australia, including off duty officers, retired members, friends and family of fallen officers.
