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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: We learned over the weekend, as we've spoken about, that

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Speaker 2: a Northern Territory Police officer had taken his own life,

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Speaker 2: the third in as many months for officers in the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory. As we understand, he was a long serving

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Speaker 2: member of the force and wrote extensively about his struggles

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Speaker 2: with post traumatic stress. We know that Run for Blue

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Speaker 2: is on now and throughout May. It is a virtual

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Speaker 2: race held annually that supports families of fallen police officers

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Speaker 2: through police legacy. And I am joined on the line

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Speaker 2: by Northern Territory Police officer and one of the event organizers,

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Speaker 2: Tammy Watson. Good morning to you, Tammy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, hey, how am you today?

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Speaker 1: Not too bad? Tammy?

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Speaker 2: You and I have spoken over the years about Run

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Speaker 2: for Blue and the wonderful, wonderful event and wonderful thing

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Speaker 2: that it is. We know it's important every year to

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Speaker 2: recognize how officers really put all of themselves into their

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Speaker 2: job as officers, and we know that I think really

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Speaker 2: for this year is it's more meaningful than ever.

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Speaker 3: It certainly is, Katie, it really is. Those many people

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Speaker 3: are aware that we've lost three of our members in

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Speaker 3: the last three months, whether they've been current serving or

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Speaker 3: ex members but still very close to the job. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: this year is really really important to us and to

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Speaker 3: be able to support the families of those members.

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Speaker 1: It is so incredibly important.

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Speaker 2: Like I said, you and I have spoken on over

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Speaker 2: the years about the wonderful event. I know that it's

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Speaker 2: been a really tough few months for our territory police.

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Speaker 2: When you talk about the loss of those three officers

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Speaker 2: and something that is hard, I'm sure for you to

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Speaker 2: speak about a beautiful post on the Facebook page over

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Speaker 2: the weekend though as well. And look, I don't obviously

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Speaker 2: it's your call whether you want to, you know, whether

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Speaker 2: you want to name the person whose life was lost

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Speaker 2: on the weekend, but you know, it's just heartbreaking when

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Speaker 2: you think of what's going.

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Speaker 3: On, it is absolutely heartbreaking. Look, I haven't spoken to

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Speaker 3: the family law gain permission to speak publicly. Obviously our

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Speaker 3: Facebook page is open to the public, but to speak

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Speaker 3: about it is very difficult. This member was a fierce

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Speaker 3: advocate for talking about mental health and acknowledging that he'd

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Speaker 3: had his own difficulties over the years, and he really

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Speaker 3: made it okay for particularly our older members to recognize

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Speaker 3: that it's all right, not to be okay. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: an absolute tragic loss. He was a mentor, an amazing

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Speaker 3: police officer, highly respected across the agency and as an agency.

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Speaker 3: We're all grieving, but I can't imagine what his family

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Speaker 3: is going through at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Yeah me either, you know, my heart goes out to

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Speaker 2: them and to all of you.

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Speaker 1: Really, it's such a tough time.

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Speaker 2: I know that I'd certainly interacted with this person in

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Speaker 2: his role, and he was a wonderful bloke.

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Speaker 1: I certainly didn't know him well.

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Speaker 2: But with those interactions, I knew he was a really

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Speaker 2: good person. And like I've said, it is so hard

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Speaker 2: for you guys right now when you're dealing with the

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Speaker 2: loss of your work colleagues, but work colleagues who are

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Speaker 2: incredibly good friends, and it really does just show you

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Speaker 2: how important that Run for Blue is. Tell us a

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Speaker 2: little bit about you know what the aim is for

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Speaker 2: this year, Tammy, Yeah, so.

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Speaker 3: Look Run for Blue for those that don't know, is

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Speaker 3: a virtual run or walk or hop skip jumper. I

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Speaker 3: don't really care. But for the entire months of May,

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Speaker 3: we encourage people to get out and walk, exercise, do

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Speaker 3: whatever you can, but register for our event. Everything that

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Speaker 3: we goes to the police legacies across Australia. This is

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Speaker 3: our fourth year running or walking how would you look

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Speaker 3: at it? And you know, we just want to tip

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Speaker 3: the scales. Like we've been able to raise over three

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Speaker 3: hundred thousand in the last three years. Last year alone

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Speaker 3: was one hundred and eighty five thousand across the Australia.

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Speaker 3: The NT really need our support this year and everybody's support.

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Speaker 3: We've got grieving families more so than what we we've

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Speaker 3: had in the past in such a short amount of time,

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Speaker 3: and so we really really want to get behind our

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Speaker 3: MT colleagues and families to raise money for the non

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Speaker 3: Territory Police Legacy so that they can support those families

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Speaker 3: while they're going through the most freendous time of their lives.

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Speaker 1: Tell me, how can people get involved?

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Speaker 2: You know, maybe they don't have a family member that's

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Speaker 2: a police officer, or they don't even really know any

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Speaker 2: of our police first hand, but what can they do?

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Speaker 2: How can they get involved to show their support for

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Speaker 2: our police?

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Speaker 3: So run for black, Just Google or whatever search engine

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Speaker 3: you use, Run for blue, it will come up with it.

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Speaker 3: Go fundraise me. So go fundraise website where you register

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Speaker 3: and or you can even donate directly to the police

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Speaker 3: legacy via that means