Policing Career – Police & Law Enforcement Professionals Fellowship of Rotarians

POLICE CAREER, POST-RETIREMENT FROM THE NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE SERVICE, AND CIVIC INVOLVEMENT WITHIN ROTARY AND THE UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (NEW SOUTH WALES)

Sergeant Geoffrey Bernard William Little Retired (New South Wales Police 1962 – 2001) is the Founding International Chairman of the Pollice Law Enforcement Professionals Fellowship of Rotarians (Polepfor).

Geoffrey Bernard William Little engaged in most phases of Police duty over a celebrated Police career spanning in excess of thirty-nine years – from a Plainclothes to `Uniformed Police Cadet Cyclist ‘attached to the then `Police Gazette’ (1962 – 1965) to General Duties, Divisional Cyclist and Traffic Branch, Community Based Policing, School Lecturing, Prosecuting Branch (like the District Attorney) and a number of other Specialist Units within the New South Wales Police Service.

Geoffrey Little availed of Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) in June 2001.

GLittledepchf

Within Harbourside Local Area Command (North Sydney) in addition to General Duty Supervision Duties, he supervised the Community Safety Officer, Schools and Youth Liaison Officer (including Student Work Experience programs), and Domestic Violence and Gay/Lesbian Liaison Unit Officer.

Then Sergeant Little was also responsible for all Specialist Programmes and events which pertained to the Harbourside Local Area Command (LAC) including resurrecting `Police Open Days’, local gala occasions, and Promotions and Marketing.

Then Sergeant Little also developed expertise in `Local Emergency Management’ and `Operational Command’ having served in various highlighted moments of his working career on call out to a New South Wales Corrective Services Warder’s Prison strike at Long Bay Gaol in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, to mass breakout of fires which ravaged the entire East Coast of Australia including the Sydney Metropolitan Area – and a bushland search of the famous Backpacker Murder Case Crime Scene in the Bangalow Forest of the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales – to name just three of many occurrences during his thirty nine year Police career.

Geoffrey Little served in a part-time capacity for over twenty years in the famous New South Wales Police Choir, receiving a Singing Scholarship to the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. The Police Choir was disbanded in 1988 by the then Minister for Police hell-bent on a cost-cutting exercise which also impacted the Police Pipe Band.

The Police Band was retained and still performs with a resident soloist to this day and has been utilized to great effect for Sydney’s Annual United Nations Day Wreath Laying Ceremony conducted each October 24.

Over the years Geoffrey Little developed a number of schools related programs e.g., Schools Work Experience and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. As a Captain (Officer of Cadets-OOC) in the Australian (Army) Cadet Corps attached to North Sydney Boys’ High School and Eastern Command Military District Headquarters, Paddington, Captain Little further developed the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to afford greater access for Cadets to the Bronze, Silver and Gold levels of achievement.

Geoffrey Little meeting Chief Superintendent John Johnston, at Northern Constabulary Headquarters, Scotland, June, 1997

During his Recreational Leave then Sergeant Little attended the annual International Rotary Conventions where he continues to manage the Police/Law Enforcement Professionals Fellowship of Rotarians (Polepfor) Information Booth.

Geoffrey’s most recent International Rotary Programme as a Guest Panel Speaker was to attend the Rotary Peace Summit held in Windsor, Ontario in April 2008 (see www.rotarypeacesummit.com).

In concert with attending International Rotary Conventions as Founding Chairman of Polepfor manning the Polepfor Fellowship Information Booth, Geoffrey Little continues to travel the world where he engages in Rotary Based and United Nations related programs still bearing his International Persona of the “The Smiling Policeman”

One such activity in past years was the `Just Say No to Drugs’ Programme in Cebu, Philippines, under the Chairmanship of Former Rotarian Oscar C.Mabilog of the Rotary Club of Metro Cebu. Rotarian Oscar Mabilog (now sadly deceased) was an Honorary Deputy Mayor of Cebu City and Chairman of COSAP (Cebu City Office of Substance Abuse Prevention).

Geoffrey Little is recognized as an Honorary Lieutenant Colonel (Superintendant) in the Philippine National Police (see pic) and is a Knight Commander in the Order of the Knights of Rizal (KCOR) within the Philippines. He is a member of the Sydney Chapter. The Order of the Knights of Rizal is a Civic and Patriotic honor and an Act of the Philippine Congress, raised in recognition of the National Hero – Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal, who as a mentor to the `rebellious’ Filipinos of the day seeking emancipation from the yoke of the `occupier’, was martyred by the Spanish at the close of the nineteenth century.

Geoffrey Little has gone on to be further recognized as an Honorary Sergeant in the Northern Constabulary, Scotland, Honorary Deputy Sheriff Lieutenant in the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Department, Wisconsin, USA, and an Honorary Deputy Chief in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. Geoffrey is also recognized as an Honorary Citizen of the City of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

In 1979 then Senior Constable Geoffrey Little was appointed an Ambassador of Goodwill on behalf of the United Nations Association of Australia, New South Wales Division (UNAA, NSW), whereupon as a guest of Bob Ashford’s ‘Walkin Explorer’ and Pennworld Coaches’ traveled from Kathmandu to London via the Middle East engaging in Fund Running activities on behalf of Child oriented programs, to celebrate the International Year of the Child – jogging down the Raj Pass from Nepal into India, running in numerous locations in India, Jordan, Israel, and with a ride with Expat Australian Rolf Harris from Longdon to Brighton, jogged over a twenty-four hour period from Brighton to London on a fundraising exercise facilitated through the good offices of the London Fire Brigade, where short periods of sleep were availed in Fire Stations in Purley and Crawley on the way up the A24. Jimmy Saville was to greet Geoffrey upon his arrival at the Australian Embassy in the Strand.

1979 was the first of three trips to Israel where Geoffrey Little became the first person in recorded history to engage in the first of three `Fund Runs’ from Jericho to Jerusalem, a distance of 37 kilometers from Jericho Square to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, running from 383 meters below Sea Level to 780 meters above Sea Level, a total of one vertical kilometer. Funds raised on the third event in 1982 went to the Netanya Blind Institute through the conduct of a local fun run organized by the Rotary Club of Netanya in Israel and facilitated by Mr. Eli Tal of Sydney.

Geoffrey Little went on to become a Life Member of the United Nations Association of Australia and in concert with the United Nations Police Association (UNPAA) and UNAA(NSW) continues to organize and compeer Sydney’s Annual United Nations Day Wreath Laying Ceremony each 24 October.

Geoffrey Little now holds a Master Private Security Licence in the name of `Geoffrey B.W.Little Consulting Services as a Security Risk Management Consultant and Workplace Trainer and Assessor to the Private Security Industry.

In addition to working within the Private Security Industry Geoffrey is employed by the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services within the Court Security Unit (CSU) where he performs duties as a Court Security Officer within the Local Magistrate’s Courts to the District and Supreme Courts of New South Wales.