Healesville police sergeant Tony van Gorp will be remembered on Blue Ribbon Day for 15 years of service as a police officer.
By Kath Gannaway
Sgt van Gorp was found dead from a gunshot wound at the Healesville Police station on 22 March. There were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
Community calls at the time for a memorial to the sergeant who had served 15 years in the top job at Healesville will also see a plaque acknowledging his service to the community erected at the police station before Christmas.
Yarra Ranges’ Ryrie Ward councillor Jeanette McRae said the memorial was community-driven and the plaque would be paid for from the Ryrie Ward Councillor’s Fund on behalf of the community.
She said it had been suggested to Victoria Police that they may also like to contribute with a grant for appropriate landscaping around the memorial.
‘The plaque will acknowledge and remember Tony’s contribution to our community,’ Cr McRae said.
‘Certainly it is important to acknowledge on Blue Ribbon Day those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect others in the community, but it is also an opportunity to remember we should value the enormous contribution serving officers make on behalf of the community every day.
‘It is especially an opportunity to be grateful for our local police, who we value and admire,’ she said.
Sgt van Gorp’s brother, Fred, said he was pleased his sibling would be remembered on Blue Ribbon Day as a fallen police officer.
‘It is an appropriate honour to be bestowed and we (family) are very pleased,’ he said.
No date has been set for the Coroner’s inquest into Sgt van Gorp’s death.
Detective Sergeant Peter Trichias said the Homicide Unit is still compiling the inquest brief and expects it to be finished soon.
It will then go to the coroner who will set a date for the inquest.
Blue Ribbon Day services will be held around the state, with the main service at the Police Memorial in St Kilda Road at 10.30am.
