ANDERSON,
Detective Inspector Bryson Charles.
16.01.1967 - 06.12.2012.
Late of East Kurrajong. Dearly beloved husband of Donna, loved father of Olivia, Darcy and Cain. Loving son of Rex and Shirley Anderson, loved brother of Warwick and Damian. Much loved son-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and friend. Will also be sadly missed by all his police family and the wider community.
Aged 45 years.
One of natures
true gentleman.
Forever in our hearts.
A Mass of Christian Celebration for the Life of BRYSON will be celebrated at St. Patricks Cathedral, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta, on Wednesday (December 12, 2012) commencing at 2 p.m.
Following Mass the cortege will proceed to Castlebrook Crematorium.
Video - Police mourn a mate
Video - Thousands honour Inspector Bryson Anderson
Video - Two people charged with the murder of Detective Inspector Anderson
Police officer killed in axe attack
------
VALEDICTORY
Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson
St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta
Wednesday 12 December 2012
As delivered by NSW Police Force Commissioner Andrew Scipione APM:
At 3.30pm on the 6th of December 2012, Detective Inspector Bryson Charles Anderson arrived at the scene of a neighbourhood dispute at Oakville near Windsor that had escalated beyond all reason.
He went to lend support to fellow officers who were seeking to bring matters to a peaceful resolution.
It was not to be.
The approach of police was resisted and Detective Inspector Anderson was fatally wounded.
Detective Inspector Anderson was rushed by ambulance to Hawkesbury Hospital but died as a result of his injuries.
Bryson Charles Anderson began his career as a trainee police officer on the 18th of August 1986 and attested on the 7th of November 1986.
His first general duties posting was here in Parramatta. That was followed by others to Granville and Ermington.
While at Granville in 1991, Constable First Class Anderson commenced criminal investigation duties, successfully gaining his designation as a Detective in November 1993.
Bryson's designation was a defining moment in his policing career and he quickly displayed an aptitude and an enthusiasm for criminal investigation that was soon recognised by his commanding officers.
At Castle Hill, Task Force Boyne, Ermington, Rosehill and then within Special Crime and Internal Affairs, Bryson honed his detective skills. He was dedicated, analytical and meticulous.
A thoroughly good bloke. I worked with Bryson … and I can vouch for that.
In 2004, promoted to sergeant, Bryson returned to general duties. This time it was to Hawkesbury Local Area Command, where he was to spend three years as a supervisor.
In 2007 criminal investigation was again to beckon, Bryson seizing the opportunity to return to Special Crime and Internal Affairs … now known as Professional Standards … where he applied his skills to covert investigations. There he was promoted to the rank of Detective Inspector in 2009.
What was to prove Bryson's final posting was back in Hawkesbury. He took up the role of Duty Officer in Hawkesbury Local Area Command on the 19th of December 2010, and served with distinction in that role until the moment of his passing.
Throughout his service Detective Inspector Anderson undertook extensive internal training in his chosen policing specialisation.
He was awarded the NSW Police Medal; the National Medal; as well as the first and second clasps to the NSW Police Medal.
In 2003 he received a Commissioner's Unit Citation for highly professional investigations.
He will posthumously receive the first clasp to the National Medal and the third clasp to the NSW Police Medal.
Impressive as they are, the bare facts I have recounted do Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson little justice. Those who knew him … know that Bryson the man transcended … in achievements and in potential … any chronology of this type.
Those that know it best of all are Bryson's wife, Donna, and his three children, Olivia, Darcy and Cain. It is with them that Bryson, devoted husband and father, was closest. And it is they who, tragically, must now manage without his love, strength and support.
Bryson's father, Rex; mother, Shirley; and brothers Warwick and Damian also know the calibre of the man. Bryson's is a profound loss, but be assured his life was just as profound a credit to you. I know for certain that he enriched the lives of all of us in the NSW Police Force who had the good fortune to know him.
What the record does not disclose is Bryson's wholehearted embrace of community service.
Even when on holiday, Bryson was thinking of what he could do for others. On packing his bags last year for Vanuatu, in with the board shorts and sunscreen he found room for gifts and sporting equipment for the local village kids.
The demands of policing are great: more than enough for most of us, and often more than a full-time job. But not for Bryson. He was retained as a fire-fighter, serving for eight years between 1994 and 2002 at Number 81 Station, Windsor, rising to the rank of Deputy Captain.
And it didn't stop there. Bryson coached a number of junior soccer teams for the Colo Soccer Club. And on the day before he died he took part in the final leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, held in Windsor, an event which five months earlier he volunteered to organise.
Bryson loved the Hawkesbury area, where he lived and worked most of his adult life.
And innumerable people, from the Hawkesbury and elsewhere, loved and admired Bryson in return. His personnel file is full to overflowing with complimentary remarks and letters of appreciation, many from the community and victims of crime, moved to write in gratitude for the care, dedication and professionalism with which he went about his work.
In Vanuatu, upon hearing of his passing, the villagers whose lives Bryson had so selflessly touched while on holiday held a service in his memory.
He was equally admired by his fellow police officers, myself among them. On the one hand, a tenacious and committed police officer, driven to pursue offenders for the darkest and most serious of crimes. Yet retaining the most extraordinary empathy, compassion and concern for the victims of those crimes.
He showed initiative and leadership; intelligence and perseverance; dedication and humility; and, memorably, a ready smile and an engaging way. Bryson drew people to him, without guile and without effort. The workplace was a better place for him being there.
The tributes from his fellow officers were immediate and many. They tell variously of a proud husband and father, a keen motor cyclist, an active participant in sporting clubs, and, invariably, of a superb police officer.
He made his vast store of policing wisdom available to young officers but never imposed it. More likely were those officers to hear from Bryson an encouraging "Just play your natural game, it's first class" - one of his favourite sayings - to go with some tip or insight he'd somehow manage to convey.
Reflecting on her career, one officer … echoing the thoughts of many others I am sure, wrote: "Bryson you are an amazing officer and an even nicer gentleman. I formed this opinion 20 years ago as a naïve female probationary constable. I still hold the same opinion now. You will be truly missed"
There can be no doubt Bryson will be missed.
He lived for the community, died serving it and deserved much better.
His death reminds us that law and order are not givens. They come at a price and that price, on occasion, is a prohibitive one.
With Bryson's death we realise, suddenly, even if belatedly, that ours is a society worth defending.
We realise that our hard won freedoms and protections are vulnerable and easily demolished.
We realise that not only is each individual's life precious and fragile … but that so too is our way of life.
We meet Bryson's death with grief and tears, but that can't be allowed to suffice.
If he could lend us his voice, I'm sure Bryson would agree that now is not the time to be timid or defensive. It is not a time to be apologetic, nor a time for retreat.
The anger and regret we all feel - for Bryson's sake and for the sake of all of the officers who have fallen before him - need to find constructive expression. As a society we need to rise up to repudiate violence, however and wherever we can, with all the energy we can muster.
For his wider police family … of which all police officers and their families are a part … Bryson's death will neither be forgotten nor be in vain. Bryson's courage and conviction inspire us now … and will into the future. We will continue to protect and serve the community as Bryson did. Of that he can be sure.
It is my honour today to posthumously confer two awards on Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson.
The National Police Service Medal: recognising Bryson's ethical and diligent service in protecting the community.
And the Commissioner's Valour Award for the conspicuous action and exceptional courage he displayed at the incident in Oakville where he lost his life. After being attacked with a knife and sustaining wounds that would prove fatal, Detective Inspector Anderson went to the aid of a fellow injured officer without hesitation.
In part the valour citation reads:
Conferred for conspicuous merit and exceptional bravery whilst under attack during the execution of his duties at Oakville on Thursday, 6 December 2012.
By his conspicuous actions and exceptional courage in a dangerous situation, Detective Inspector Anderson evinced the highest standards of the New South Wales Police Force and is so conferred with the Commissioner's Valour Award.
I am deeply honoured, and indeed privileged, to be able to represent every member of the New South Wales Police Force here today to farewell a man who served his community with courage, honour, and distinction.
A loving husband and father.
A prized friend and colleague.
A police officer.
Our prayers are with you Bryson. May you rest in peace.
Homily for the Funeral Mass for Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson, St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta, Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP, Bishop of Parramatta
Wednesday, 12 December 2012 02:57:38 PM
Any death is a loss. The death of a loved one before time is worse. A senseless, violent, innocent death is even more appalling. But a death in the line of duty hits us especially hard. Why is that?
Our word police comes from the Greek word polis, meaning the city-state, its citizens and civilisation. Police are appointed to keep order in the polis and protect persons and property. The word politician comes from the same root, for they too work for the people, with our bureaucracies and courts. Yet none of these is in the front-line the way police are.
We all shelter behind our police officers' sense of law and order, their character and courage, their instincts, reactions, negotiating and other skills. Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson devoted his life to providing such shelter for his family, friends and community. He lived for this and this was a gift to us all; he died for this and this affronts us all.
His fellow officers also mourn his passing, as Commissioner Scipione testified. I first got to know the Commissioner and his people in the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. It was a time when hundreds of thousands of youth threw them kisses and told them God loved them and they loved them. If only it was always so! One such beloved of God and people was described in our first Scripture reading today (Wisdom 4:7-15). Being virtuous, untarnished and God-pleasing, the man in that passage was ready for God sooner than most.
Bryson's fellow officers tell me he was such a man, and that his integrity inspired them. That his death has left them in shock is a sign of that bond within the police family said to be as thick as blood.
Of course, policing was literally in Bryson's blood, as his father and brother both served in the force, Rex for many years here in Parramatta. When I saw Donna and the family after the terrible news, there were policemen present as if they were his own brothers. Such a death must make all officers aware of their own mortality, must bring to the surface daily anxiety for the safety of the public, their comrades and themselves, and so too for beloved spouses who might be widowed or children orphaned. But it also brings out into the open their fraternity and courage.
Thousands are here today to pray for Bryson and the Anderson family, to share in their natural sorrow and supernatural hope. But proud as they must be and however comforted by our presence, they still have the very personal grief of ones who've lost husband, father, son and brother.
Perhaps they are asking themselves: How could an argument over a bird cage end so horribly? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God permit such things? Well, God could have made us robots, obedient to His every command. Instead He took the great 'gamble' of making us free, able to choose good or evil. He does everything to persuade, encourage, inspire us to live lives of service and self-sacrifice.
Some of us do. Most of us try. Some don't. When bushfires, floods or other natural evils hurt innocent people, we know that these are part and parcel of a world that is beautiful and bountiful but has its own law and order.
The real mystery for us is man-made evil: why human beings do terrible things to each other, why they misuse the godlike gifts of freedom and intelligence. Like those in our first reading, we "look on uncomprehending". Few of us will face death by an assailant's knife or have that happen in our family. But when our own crosses come, we too must try to make some sense of it. In Jesus Christ, we believe, God fully embraced our human condition, including His own violent death as an innocent man before his time.
Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer? Because that was where humanity was. To redeem us, He had to go where we are. So God became a real human being, with friends and enemies, hopes and fears, who wept for His dead friend Lazarus, and later cried out tired, frightened, abandoned.
God in Jesus Christ is the great realist: no evasion, no false front, no easy escape; no pretending away the sin of the world or the suffering of ordinary lives. But He did what any man, any God-made-man, could do.
The problem of evil drives some to atheism, some to despair. But it draws some to the Crucified One, to unite their sufferings with His, as He united His whole being with them at Christmas and beyond.
This doesn't 'magic away' all that is unpleasant; we may still ache that someone we love has been stolen from us. Our hearts may be troubled as Jesus' was (John 12:27, 13:31). But in time faith can bring new perspective, the courage to face the human condition, the grace to grow through this stage of our life, and compassion for others who suffer also.
Any faith or philosophy worthy of us must face evil straight on. Every police officer knows this. Euphemisms and positive thinking will not do; neither will glorifying evil or emptying it of its mystery. From the side of the Crucified God flows the blood and water of human life and death. But from there, too, flows hope for every hurting heart, every fragile person, even for the dead.
2012 is the sesquicentenary of the New South Wales Police Force and was supposed to be a year of celebration for them. Yet it began with the killing of Senior Constable Dave Rixon and ends with the killing of Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson. He is the 14th to be killed on duty since 1980. Death is no respecter of office, rank or character. And so this week a family, a force, a whole state join Christ in His Passion. We are joined with Him in His mortal combat with evil: proposing the good and beautiful and true to all; preventing violence and injustice where we can; comforting the victims, those who suffer for justice's sake and those who mourn them.
In our Gospel passage, Christ called Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life for every troubled heart (John 14:1-6). His life offers us the way, as it did to Bryson, the way of justice, mercy and peace. Christ's death offers us the truth, as it did for Bryson, the truth about human fragility and promise, freedom and intelligence for good or evil. And His Resurrection offers us the life, as it does for Bryson, life eternal for every noble soul.
2012 should have been a year of celebration for police officers and still it should be: a celebration of what is most worthy in the force and in those who bring it credit. It should have been a time of pride and joy for the Anderson family: that will come later, as they treasure what Bryson gave to them and to us all.
But for now: "We seem to be giving Bryson back to you, O God, who gave him to us.
Yet, as you did not lose him in giving him to us, so we do not lose him by his return. For
you do not give as the world gives, O Lover of souls: what you give you never take
away … For life is eternal, and love immortal, and death is only an horizon, and the
horizon is no more than the limit of our sight.
"Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further. Cleanse our tearful eyes that
we may see more clearly. Draw us closer to yourself, that we may know ourselves to be
nearer to Bryson, now that he is with you. And while you prepare a place for us (John
14:1-6), prepare us also for that happy place, that where you and he are, we may be
also, for evermore." (Prayer of Fr Bede Jarrett OP)
Detective Inspector Bryson Charles.
16.01.1967 - 06.12.2012.
Late of East Kurrajong. Dearly beloved husband of Donna, loved father of Olivia, Darcy and Cain. Loving son of Rex and Shirley Anderson, loved brother of Warwick and Damian. Much loved son-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and friend. Will also be sadly missed by all his police family and the wider community.
Aged 45 years.
One of natures
true gentleman.
Forever in our hearts.
A Mass of Christian Celebration for the Life of BRYSON will be celebrated at St. Patricks Cathedral, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta, on Wednesday (December 12, 2012) commencing at 2 p.m.
Following Mass the cortege will proceed to Castlebrook Crematorium.
Video - Police mourn a mate
Video - Thousands honour Inspector Bryson Anderson
Video - Two people charged with the murder of Detective Inspector Anderson
Police officer killed in axe attack
------
VALEDICTORY
Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson
St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta
Wednesday 12 December 2012
As delivered by NSW Police Force Commissioner Andrew Scipione APM:
At 3.30pm on the 6th of December 2012, Detective Inspector Bryson Charles Anderson arrived at the scene of a neighbourhood dispute at Oakville near Windsor that had escalated beyond all reason.
He went to lend support to fellow officers who were seeking to bring matters to a peaceful resolution.
It was not to be.
The approach of police was resisted and Detective Inspector Anderson was fatally wounded.
Detective Inspector Anderson was rushed by ambulance to Hawkesbury Hospital but died as a result of his injuries.
Bryson Charles Anderson began his career as a trainee police officer on the 18th of August 1986 and attested on the 7th of November 1986.
His first general duties posting was here in Parramatta. That was followed by others to Granville and Ermington.
While at Granville in 1991, Constable First Class Anderson commenced criminal investigation duties, successfully gaining his designation as a Detective in November 1993.
Bryson's designation was a defining moment in his policing career and he quickly displayed an aptitude and an enthusiasm for criminal investigation that was soon recognised by his commanding officers.
At Castle Hill, Task Force Boyne, Ermington, Rosehill and then within Special Crime and Internal Affairs, Bryson honed his detective skills. He was dedicated, analytical and meticulous.
A thoroughly good bloke. I worked with Bryson … and I can vouch for that.
In 2004, promoted to sergeant, Bryson returned to general duties. This time it was to Hawkesbury Local Area Command, where he was to spend three years as a supervisor.
In 2007 criminal investigation was again to beckon, Bryson seizing the opportunity to return to Special Crime and Internal Affairs … now known as Professional Standards … where he applied his skills to covert investigations. There he was promoted to the rank of Detective Inspector in 2009.
What was to prove Bryson's final posting was back in Hawkesbury. He took up the role of Duty Officer in Hawkesbury Local Area Command on the 19th of December 2010, and served with distinction in that role until the moment of his passing.
Throughout his service Detective Inspector Anderson undertook extensive internal training in his chosen policing specialisation.
He was awarded the NSW Police Medal; the National Medal; as well as the first and second clasps to the NSW Police Medal.
In 2003 he received a Commissioner's Unit Citation for highly professional investigations.
He will posthumously receive the first clasp to the National Medal and the third clasp to the NSW Police Medal.
Impressive as they are, the bare facts I have recounted do Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson little justice. Those who knew him … know that Bryson the man transcended … in achievements and in potential … any chronology of this type.
Those that know it best of all are Bryson's wife, Donna, and his three children, Olivia, Darcy and Cain. It is with them that Bryson, devoted husband and father, was closest. And it is they who, tragically, must now manage without his love, strength and support.
Bryson's father, Rex; mother, Shirley; and brothers Warwick and Damian also know the calibre of the man. Bryson's is a profound loss, but be assured his life was just as profound a credit to you. I know for certain that he enriched the lives of all of us in the NSW Police Force who had the good fortune to know him.
What the record does not disclose is Bryson's wholehearted embrace of community service.
Even when on holiday, Bryson was thinking of what he could do for others. On packing his bags last year for Vanuatu, in with the board shorts and sunscreen he found room for gifts and sporting equipment for the local village kids.
The demands of policing are great: more than enough for most of us, and often more than a full-time job. But not for Bryson. He was retained as a fire-fighter, serving for eight years between 1994 and 2002 at Number 81 Station, Windsor, rising to the rank of Deputy Captain.
And it didn't stop there. Bryson coached a number of junior soccer teams for the Colo Soccer Club. And on the day before he died he took part in the final leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, held in Windsor, an event which five months earlier he volunteered to organise.
Bryson loved the Hawkesbury area, where he lived and worked most of his adult life.
And innumerable people, from the Hawkesbury and elsewhere, loved and admired Bryson in return. His personnel file is full to overflowing with complimentary remarks and letters of appreciation, many from the community and victims of crime, moved to write in gratitude for the care, dedication and professionalism with which he went about his work.
In Vanuatu, upon hearing of his passing, the villagers whose lives Bryson had so selflessly touched while on holiday held a service in his memory.
He was equally admired by his fellow police officers, myself among them. On the one hand, a tenacious and committed police officer, driven to pursue offenders for the darkest and most serious of crimes. Yet retaining the most extraordinary empathy, compassion and concern for the victims of those crimes.
He showed initiative and leadership; intelligence and perseverance; dedication and humility; and, memorably, a ready smile and an engaging way. Bryson drew people to him, without guile and without effort. The workplace was a better place for him being there.
The tributes from his fellow officers were immediate and many. They tell variously of a proud husband and father, a keen motor cyclist, an active participant in sporting clubs, and, invariably, of a superb police officer.
He made his vast store of policing wisdom available to young officers but never imposed it. More likely were those officers to hear from Bryson an encouraging "Just play your natural game, it's first class" - one of his favourite sayings - to go with some tip or insight he'd somehow manage to convey.
Reflecting on her career, one officer … echoing the thoughts of many others I am sure, wrote: "Bryson you are an amazing officer and an even nicer gentleman. I formed this opinion 20 years ago as a naïve female probationary constable. I still hold the same opinion now. You will be truly missed"
There can be no doubt Bryson will be missed.
He lived for the community, died serving it and deserved much better.
His death reminds us that law and order are not givens. They come at a price and that price, on occasion, is a prohibitive one.
With Bryson's death we realise, suddenly, even if belatedly, that ours is a society worth defending.
We realise that our hard won freedoms and protections are vulnerable and easily demolished.
We realise that not only is each individual's life precious and fragile … but that so too is our way of life.
We meet Bryson's death with grief and tears, but that can't be allowed to suffice.
If he could lend us his voice, I'm sure Bryson would agree that now is not the time to be timid or defensive. It is not a time to be apologetic, nor a time for retreat.
The anger and regret we all feel - for Bryson's sake and for the sake of all of the officers who have fallen before him - need to find constructive expression. As a society we need to rise up to repudiate violence, however and wherever we can, with all the energy we can muster.
For his wider police family … of which all police officers and their families are a part … Bryson's death will neither be forgotten nor be in vain. Bryson's courage and conviction inspire us now … and will into the future. We will continue to protect and serve the community as Bryson did. Of that he can be sure.
It is my honour today to posthumously confer two awards on Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson.
The National Police Service Medal: recognising Bryson's ethical and diligent service in protecting the community.
And the Commissioner's Valour Award for the conspicuous action and exceptional courage he displayed at the incident in Oakville where he lost his life. After being attacked with a knife and sustaining wounds that would prove fatal, Detective Inspector Anderson went to the aid of a fellow injured officer without hesitation.
In part the valour citation reads:
Conferred for conspicuous merit and exceptional bravery whilst under attack during the execution of his duties at Oakville on Thursday, 6 December 2012.
By his conspicuous actions and exceptional courage in a dangerous situation, Detective Inspector Anderson evinced the highest standards of the New South Wales Police Force and is so conferred with the Commissioner's Valour Award.
I am deeply honoured, and indeed privileged, to be able to represent every member of the New South Wales Police Force here today to farewell a man who served his community with courage, honour, and distinction.
A loving husband and father.
A prized friend and colleague.
A police officer.
Our prayers are with you Bryson. May you rest in peace.
Homily for the Funeral Mass for Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson, St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta, Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP, Bishop of Parramatta
Wednesday, 12 December 2012 02:57:38 PM
Any death is a loss. The death of a loved one before time is worse. A senseless, violent, innocent death is even more appalling. But a death in the line of duty hits us especially hard. Why is that?
Our word police comes from the Greek word polis, meaning the city-state, its citizens and civilisation. Police are appointed to keep order in the polis and protect persons and property. The word politician comes from the same root, for they too work for the people, with our bureaucracies and courts. Yet none of these is in the front-line the way police are.
We all shelter behind our police officers' sense of law and order, their character and courage, their instincts, reactions, negotiating and other skills. Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson devoted his life to providing such shelter for his family, friends and community. He lived for this and this was a gift to us all; he died for this and this affronts us all.
His fellow officers also mourn his passing, as Commissioner Scipione testified. I first got to know the Commissioner and his people in the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. It was a time when hundreds of thousands of youth threw them kisses and told them God loved them and they loved them. If only it was always so! One such beloved of God and people was described in our first Scripture reading today (Wisdom 4:7-15). Being virtuous, untarnished and God-pleasing, the man in that passage was ready for God sooner than most.
Bryson's fellow officers tell me he was such a man, and that his integrity inspired them. That his death has left them in shock is a sign of that bond within the police family said to be as thick as blood.
Of course, policing was literally in Bryson's blood, as his father and brother both served in the force, Rex for many years here in Parramatta. When I saw Donna and the family after the terrible news, there were policemen present as if they were his own brothers. Such a death must make all officers aware of their own mortality, must bring to the surface daily anxiety for the safety of the public, their comrades and themselves, and so too for beloved spouses who might be widowed or children orphaned. But it also brings out into the open their fraternity and courage.
Thousands are here today to pray for Bryson and the Anderson family, to share in their natural sorrow and supernatural hope. But proud as they must be and however comforted by our presence, they still have the very personal grief of ones who've lost husband, father, son and brother.
Perhaps they are asking themselves: How could an argument over a bird cage end so horribly? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God permit such things? Well, God could have made us robots, obedient to His every command. Instead He took the great 'gamble' of making us free, able to choose good or evil. He does everything to persuade, encourage, inspire us to live lives of service and self-sacrifice.
Some of us do. Most of us try. Some don't. When bushfires, floods or other natural evils hurt innocent people, we know that these are part and parcel of a world that is beautiful and bountiful but has its own law and order.
The real mystery for us is man-made evil: why human beings do terrible things to each other, why they misuse the godlike gifts of freedom and intelligence. Like those in our first reading, we "look on uncomprehending". Few of us will face death by an assailant's knife or have that happen in our family. But when our own crosses come, we too must try to make some sense of it. In Jesus Christ, we believe, God fully embraced our human condition, including His own violent death as an innocent man before his time.
Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer? Because that was where humanity was. To redeem us, He had to go where we are. So God became a real human being, with friends and enemies, hopes and fears, who wept for His dead friend Lazarus, and later cried out tired, frightened, abandoned.
God in Jesus Christ is the great realist: no evasion, no false front, no easy escape; no pretending away the sin of the world or the suffering of ordinary lives. But He did what any man, any God-made-man, could do.
The problem of evil drives some to atheism, some to despair. But it draws some to the Crucified One, to unite their sufferings with His, as He united His whole being with them at Christmas and beyond.
This doesn't 'magic away' all that is unpleasant; we may still ache that someone we love has been stolen from us. Our hearts may be troubled as Jesus' was (John 12:27, 13:31). But in time faith can bring new perspective, the courage to face the human condition, the grace to grow through this stage of our life, and compassion for others who suffer also.
Any faith or philosophy worthy of us must face evil straight on. Every police officer knows this. Euphemisms and positive thinking will not do; neither will glorifying evil or emptying it of its mystery. From the side of the Crucified God flows the blood and water of human life and death. But from there, too, flows hope for every hurting heart, every fragile person, even for the dead.
2012 is the sesquicentenary of the New South Wales Police Force and was supposed to be a year of celebration for them. Yet it began with the killing of Senior Constable Dave Rixon and ends with the killing of Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson. He is the 14th to be killed on duty since 1980. Death is no respecter of office, rank or character. And so this week a family, a force, a whole state join Christ in His Passion. We are joined with Him in His mortal combat with evil: proposing the good and beautiful and true to all; preventing violence and injustice where we can; comforting the victims, those who suffer for justice's sake and those who mourn them.
In our Gospel passage, Christ called Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life for every troubled heart (John 14:1-6). His life offers us the way, as it did to Bryson, the way of justice, mercy and peace. Christ's death offers us the truth, as it did for Bryson, the truth about human fragility and promise, freedom and intelligence for good or evil. And His Resurrection offers us the life, as it does for Bryson, life eternal for every noble soul.
2012 should have been a year of celebration for police officers and still it should be: a celebration of what is most worthy in the force and in those who bring it credit. It should have been a time of pride and joy for the Anderson family: that will come later, as they treasure what Bryson gave to them and to us all.
But for now: "We seem to be giving Bryson back to you, O God, who gave him to us.
Yet, as you did not lose him in giving him to us, so we do not lose him by his return. For
you do not give as the world gives, O Lover of souls: what you give you never take
away … For life is eternal, and love immortal, and death is only an horizon, and the
horizon is no more than the limit of our sight.
"Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further. Cleanse our tearful eyes that
we may see more clearly. Draw us closer to yourself, that we may know ourselves to be
nearer to Bryson, now that he is with you. And while you prepare a place for us (John
14:1-6), prepare us also for that happy place, that where you and he are, we may be
also, for evermore." (Prayer of Fr Bede Jarrett OP)
ANDERSON,
Detective Inspector Bryson Charles.
16.01.1967 - 06.12.2012.
Late of East Kurrajong. Dearly beloved husband of Donna, loved father of Olivia, Darcy and Cain. Loving son of Rex and Shirley Anderson, loved brother of Warwick and Damian. Much loved son-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and friend. Will also be sadly missed by all his police family and the wider community.
Aged 45 years.
One of natures
true gentleman.
Forever in our hearts.
A Mass of Christian Celebration for the Life of BRYSON will be celebrated at St. Patricks Cathedral, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta, on Wednesday (December 12, 2012) commencing at 2 p.m.
Following Mass the cortege will proceed to Castlebrook Crematorium.
Video - Police mourn a mate
Video - Thousands honour Inspector Bryson Anderson
Video - Two people charged with the murder of Detective Inspector Anderson
Police officer killed in axe attack
------
VALEDICTORY
Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson
St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta
Wednesday 12 December 2012
As delivered by NSW Police Force Commissioner Andrew Scipione APM:
At 3.30pm on the 6th of December 2012, Detective Inspector Bryson Charles Anderson arrived at the scene of a neighbourhood dispute at Oakville near Windsor that had escalated beyond all reason.
He went to lend support to fellow officers who were seeking to bring matters to a peaceful resolution.
It was not to be.
The approach of police was resisted and Detective Inspector Anderson was fatally wounded.
Detective Inspector Anderson was rushed by ambulance to Hawkesbury Hospital but died as a result of his injuries.
Bryson Charles Anderson began his career as a trainee police officer on the 18th of August 1986 and attested on the 7th of November 1986.
His first general duties posting was here in Parramatta. That was followed by others to Granville and Ermington.
While at Granville in 1991, Constable First Class Anderson commenced criminal investigation duties, successfully gaining his designation as a Detective in November 1993.
Bryson's designation was a defining moment in his policing career and he quickly displayed an aptitude and an enthusiasm for criminal investigation that was soon recognised by his commanding officers.
At Castle Hill, Task Force Boyne, Ermington, Rosehill and then within Special Crime and Internal Affairs, Bryson honed his detective skills. He was dedicated, analytical and meticulous.
A thoroughly good bloke. I worked with Bryson … and I can vouch for that.
In 2004, promoted to sergeant, Bryson returned to general duties. This time it was to Hawkesbury Local Area Command, where he was to spend three years as a supervisor.
In 2007 criminal investigation was again to beckon, Bryson seizing the opportunity to return to Special Crime and Internal Affairs … now known as Professional Standards … where he applied his skills to covert investigations. There he was promoted to the rank of Detective Inspector in 2009.
What was to prove Bryson's final posting was back in Hawkesbury. He took up the role of Duty Officer in Hawkesbury Local Area Command on the 19th of December 2010, and served with distinction in that role until the moment of his passing.
Throughout his service Detective Inspector Anderson undertook extensive internal training in his chosen policing specialisation.
He was awarded the NSW Police Medal; the National Medal; as well as the first and second clasps to the NSW Police Medal.
In 2003 he received a Commissioner's Unit Citation for highly professional investigations.
He will posthumously receive the first clasp to the National Medal and the third clasp to the NSW Police Medal.
Impressive as they are, the bare facts I have recounted do Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson little justice. Those who knew him … know that Bryson the man transcended … in achievements and in potential … any chronology of this type.
Those that know it best of all are Bryson's wife, Donna, and his three children, Olivia, Darcy and Cain. It is with them that Bryson, devoted husband and father, was closest. And it is they who, tragically, must now manage without his love, strength and support.
Bryson's father, Rex; mother, Shirley; and brothers Warwick and Damian also know the calibre of the man. Bryson's is a profound loss, but be assured his life was just as profound a credit to you. I know for certain that he enriched the lives of all of us in the NSW Police Force who had the good fortune to know him.
What the record does not disclose is Bryson's wholehearted embrace of community service.
Even when on holiday, Bryson was thinking of what he could do for others. On packing his bags last year for Vanuatu, in with the board shorts and sunscreen he found room for gifts and sporting equipment for the local village kids.
The demands of policing are great: more than enough for most of us, and often more than a full-time job. But not for Bryson. He was retained as a fire-fighter, serving for eight years between 1994 and 2002 at Number 81 Station, Windsor, rising to the rank of Deputy Captain.
And it didn't stop there. Bryson coached a number of junior soccer teams for the Colo Soccer Club. And on the day before he died he took part in the final leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, held in Windsor, an event which five months earlier he volunteered to organise.
Bryson loved the Hawkesbury area, where he lived and worked most of his adult life.
And innumerable people, from the Hawkesbury and elsewhere, loved and admired Bryson in return. His personnel file is full to overflowing with complimentary remarks and letters of appreciation, many from the community and victims of crime, moved to write in gratitude for the care, dedication and professionalism with which he went about his work.
In Vanuatu, upon hearing of his passing, the villagers whose lives Bryson had so selflessly touched while on holiday held a service in his memory.
He was equally admired by his fellow police officers, myself among them. On the one hand, a tenacious and committed police officer, driven to pursue offenders for the darkest and most serious of crimes. Yet retaining the most extraordinary empathy, compassion and concern for the victims of those crimes.
He showed initiative and leadership; intelligence and perseverance; dedication and humility; and, memorably, a ready smile and an engaging way. Bryson drew people to him, without guile and without effort. The workplace was a better place for him being there.
The tributes from his fellow officers were immediate and many. They tell variously of a proud husband and father, a keen motor cyclist, an active participant in sporting clubs, and, invariably, of a superb police officer.
He made his vast store of policing wisdom available to young officers but never imposed it. More likely were those officers to hear from Bryson an encouraging "Just play your natural game, it's first class" - one of his favourite sayings - to go with some tip or insight he'd somehow manage to convey.
Reflecting on her career, one officer … echoing the thoughts of many others I am sure, wrote: "Bryson you are an amazing officer and an even nicer gentleman. I formed this opinion 20 years ago as a naïve female probationary constable. I still hold the same opinion now. You will be truly missed"
There can be no doubt Bryson will be missed.
He lived for the community, died serving it and deserved much better.
His death reminds us that law and order are not givens. They come at a price and that price, on occasion, is a prohibitive one.
With Bryson's death we realise, suddenly, even if belatedly, that ours is a society worth defending.
We realise that our hard won freedoms and protections are vulnerable and easily demolished.
We realise that not only is each individual's life precious and fragile … but that so too is our way of life.
We meet Bryson's death with grief and tears, but that can't be allowed to suffice.
If he could lend us his voice, I'm sure Bryson would agree that now is not the time to be timid or defensive. It is not a time to be apologetic, nor a time for retreat.
The anger and regret we all feel - for Bryson's sake and for the sake of all of the officers who have fallen before him - need to find constructive expression. As a society we need to rise up to repudiate violence, however and wherever we can, with all the energy we can muster.
For his wider police family … of which all police officers and their families are a part … Bryson's death will neither be forgotten nor be in vain. Bryson's courage and conviction inspire us now … and will into the future. We will continue to protect and serve the community as Bryson did. Of that he can be sure.
It is my honour today to posthumously confer two awards on Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson.
The National Police Service Medal: recognising Bryson's ethical and diligent service in protecting the community.
And the Commissioner's Valour Award for the conspicuous action and exceptional courage he displayed at the incident in Oakville where he lost his life. After being attacked with a knife and sustaining wounds that would prove fatal, Detective Inspector Anderson went to the aid of a fellow injured officer without hesitation.
In part the valour citation reads:
Conferred for conspicuous merit and exceptional bravery whilst under attack during the execution of his duties at Oakville on Thursday, 6 December 2012.
By his conspicuous actions and exceptional courage in a dangerous situation, Detective Inspector Anderson evinced the highest standards of the New South Wales Police Force and is so conferred with the Commissioner's Valour Award.
I am deeply honoured, and indeed privileged, to be able to represent every member of the New South Wales Police Force here today to farewell a man who served his community with courage, honour, and distinction.
A loving husband and father.
A prized friend and colleague.
A police officer.
Our prayers are with you Bryson. May you rest in peace.
Homily for the Funeral Mass for Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson, St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta, Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP, Bishop of Parramatta
Wednesday, 12 December 2012 02:57:38 PM
Any death is a loss. The death of a loved one before time is worse. A senseless, violent, innocent death is even more appalling. But a death in the line of duty hits us especially hard. Why is that?
Our word police comes from the Greek word polis, meaning the city-state, its citizens and civilisation. Police are appointed to keep order in the polis and protect persons and property. The word politician comes from the same root, for they too work for the people, with our bureaucracies and courts. Yet none of these is in the front-line the way police are.
We all shelter behind our police officers' sense of law and order, their character and courage, their instincts, reactions, negotiating and other skills. Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson devoted his life to providing such shelter for his family, friends and community. He lived for this and this was a gift to us all; he died for this and this affronts us all.
His fellow officers also mourn his passing, as Commissioner Scipione testified. I first got to know the Commissioner and his people in the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. It was a time when hundreds of thousands of youth threw them kisses and told them God loved them and they loved them. If only it was always so! One such beloved of God and people was described in our first Scripture reading today (Wisdom 4:7-15). Being virtuous, untarnished and God-pleasing, the man in that passage was ready for God sooner than most.
Bryson's fellow officers tell me he was such a man, and that his integrity inspired them. That his death has left them in shock is a sign of that bond within the police family said to be as thick as blood.
Of course, policing was literally in Bryson's blood, as his father and brother both served in the force, Rex for many years here in Parramatta. When I saw Donna and the family after the terrible news, there were policemen present as if they were his own brothers. Such a death must make all officers aware of their own mortality, must bring to the surface daily anxiety for the safety of the public, their comrades and themselves, and so too for beloved spouses who might be widowed or children orphaned. But it also brings out into the open their fraternity and courage.
Thousands are here today to pray for Bryson and the Anderson family, to share in their natural sorrow and supernatural hope. But proud as they must be and however comforted by our presence, they still have the very personal grief of ones who've lost husband, father, son and brother.
Perhaps they are asking themselves: How could an argument over a bird cage end so horribly? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God permit such things? Well, God could have made us robots, obedient to His every command. Instead He took the great 'gamble' of making us free, able to choose good or evil. He does everything to persuade, encourage, inspire us to live lives of service and self-sacrifice.
Some of us do. Most of us try. Some don't. When bushfires, floods or other natural evils hurt innocent people, we know that these are part and parcel of a world that is beautiful and bountiful but has its own law and order.
The real mystery for us is man-made evil: why human beings do terrible things to each other, why they misuse the godlike gifts of freedom and intelligence. Like those in our first reading, we "look on uncomprehending". Few of us will face death by an assailant's knife or have that happen in our family. But when our own crosses come, we too must try to make some sense of it. In Jesus Christ, we believe, God fully embraced our human condition, including His own violent death as an innocent man before his time.
Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer? Because that was where humanity was. To redeem us, He had to go where we are. So God became a real human being, with friends and enemies, hopes and fears, who wept for His dead friend Lazarus, and later cried out tired, frightened, abandoned.
God in Jesus Christ is the great realist: no evasion, no false front, no easy escape; no pretending away the sin of the world or the suffering of ordinary lives. But He did what any man, any God-made-man, could do.
The problem of evil drives some to atheism, some to despair. But it draws some to the Crucified One, to unite their sufferings with His, as He united His whole being with them at Christmas and beyond.
This doesn't 'magic away' all that is unpleasant; we may still ache that someone we love has been stolen from us. Our hearts may be troubled as Jesus' was (John 12:27, 13:31). But in time faith can bring new perspective, the courage to face the human condition, the grace to grow through this stage of our life, and compassion for others who suffer also.
Any faith or philosophy worthy of us must face evil straight on. Every police officer knows this. Euphemisms and positive thinking will not do; neither will glorifying evil or emptying it of its mystery. From the side of the Crucified God flows the blood and water of human life and death. But from there, too, flows hope for every hurting heart, every fragile person, even for the dead.
2012 is the sesquicentenary of the New South Wales Police Force and was supposed to be a year of celebration for them. Yet it began with the killing of Senior Constable Dave Rixon and ends with the killing of Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson. He is the 14th to be killed on duty since 1980. Death is no respecter of office, rank or character. And so this week a family, a force, a whole state join Christ in His Passion. We are joined with Him in His mortal combat with evil: proposing the good and beautiful and true to all; preventing violence and injustice where we can; comforting the victims, those who suffer for justice's sake and those who mourn them.
In our Gospel passage, Christ called Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life for every troubled heart (John 14:1-6). His life offers us the way, as it did to Bryson, the way of justice, mercy and peace. Christ's death offers us the truth, as it did for Bryson, the truth about human fragility and promise, freedom and intelligence for good or evil. And His Resurrection offers us the life, as it does for Bryson, life eternal for every noble soul.
2012 should have been a year of celebration for police officers and still it should be: a celebration of what is most worthy in the force and in those who bring it credit. It should have been a time of pride and joy for the Anderson family: that will come later, as they treasure what Bryson gave to them and to us all.
But for now: "We seem to be giving Bryson back to you, O God, who gave him to us.
Yet, as you did not lose him in giving him to us, so we do not lose him by his return. For
you do not give as the world gives, O Lover of souls: what you give you never take
away … For life is eternal, and love immortal, and death is only an horizon, and the
horizon is no more than the limit of our sight.
"Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further. Cleanse our tearful eyes that
we may see more clearly. Draw us closer to yourself, that we may know ourselves to be
nearer to Bryson, now that he is with you. And while you prepare a place for us (John
14:1-6), prepare us also for that happy place, that where you and he are, we may be
also, for evermore." (Prayer of Fr Bede Jarrett OP)
Detective Inspector Bryson Charles.
16.01.1967 - 06.12.2012.
Late of East Kurrajong. Dearly beloved husband of Donna, loved father of Olivia, Darcy and Cain. Loving son of Rex and Shirley Anderson, loved brother of Warwick and Damian. Much loved son-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and friend. Will also be sadly missed by all his police family and the wider community.
Aged 45 years.
One of natures
true gentleman.
Forever in our hearts.
A Mass of Christian Celebration for the Life of BRYSON will be celebrated at St. Patricks Cathedral, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta, on Wednesday (December 12, 2012) commencing at 2 p.m.
Following Mass the cortege will proceed to Castlebrook Crematorium.
Video - Police mourn a mate
Video - Thousands honour Inspector Bryson Anderson
Video - Two people charged with the murder of Detective Inspector Anderson
Police officer killed in axe attack
------
VALEDICTORY
Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson
St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta
Wednesday 12 December 2012
As delivered by NSW Police Force Commissioner Andrew Scipione APM:
At 3.30pm on the 6th of December 2012, Detective Inspector Bryson Charles Anderson arrived at the scene of a neighbourhood dispute at Oakville near Windsor that had escalated beyond all reason.
He went to lend support to fellow officers who were seeking to bring matters to a peaceful resolution.
It was not to be.
The approach of police was resisted and Detective Inspector Anderson was fatally wounded.
Detective Inspector Anderson was rushed by ambulance to Hawkesbury Hospital but died as a result of his injuries.
Bryson Charles Anderson began his career as a trainee police officer on the 18th of August 1986 and attested on the 7th of November 1986.
His first general duties posting was here in Parramatta. That was followed by others to Granville and Ermington.
While at Granville in 1991, Constable First Class Anderson commenced criminal investigation duties, successfully gaining his designation as a Detective in November 1993.
Bryson's designation was a defining moment in his policing career and he quickly displayed an aptitude and an enthusiasm for criminal investigation that was soon recognised by his commanding officers.
At Castle Hill, Task Force Boyne, Ermington, Rosehill and then within Special Crime and Internal Affairs, Bryson honed his detective skills. He was dedicated, analytical and meticulous.
A thoroughly good bloke. I worked with Bryson … and I can vouch for that.
In 2004, promoted to sergeant, Bryson returned to general duties. This time it was to Hawkesbury Local Area Command, where he was to spend three years as a supervisor.
In 2007 criminal investigation was again to beckon, Bryson seizing the opportunity to return to Special Crime and Internal Affairs … now known as Professional Standards … where he applied his skills to covert investigations. There he was promoted to the rank of Detective Inspector in 2009.
What was to prove Bryson's final posting was back in Hawkesbury. He took up the role of Duty Officer in Hawkesbury Local Area Command on the 19th of December 2010, and served with distinction in that role until the moment of his passing.
Throughout his service Detective Inspector Anderson undertook extensive internal training in his chosen policing specialisation.
He was awarded the NSW Police Medal; the National Medal; as well as the first and second clasps to the NSW Police Medal.
In 2003 he received a Commissioner's Unit Citation for highly professional investigations.
He will posthumously receive the first clasp to the National Medal and the third clasp to the NSW Police Medal.
Impressive as they are, the bare facts I have recounted do Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson little justice. Those who knew him … know that Bryson the man transcended … in achievements and in potential … any chronology of this type.
Those that know it best of all are Bryson's wife, Donna, and his three children, Olivia, Darcy and Cain. It is with them that Bryson, devoted husband and father, was closest. And it is they who, tragically, must now manage without his love, strength and support.
Bryson's father, Rex; mother, Shirley; and brothers Warwick and Damian also know the calibre of the man. Bryson's is a profound loss, but be assured his life was just as profound a credit to you. I know for certain that he enriched the lives of all of us in the NSW Police Force who had the good fortune to know him.
What the record does not disclose is Bryson's wholehearted embrace of community service.
Even when on holiday, Bryson was thinking of what he could do for others. On packing his bags last year for Vanuatu, in with the board shorts and sunscreen he found room for gifts and sporting equipment for the local village kids.
The demands of policing are great: more than enough for most of us, and often more than a full-time job. But not for Bryson. He was retained as a fire-fighter, serving for eight years between 1994 and 2002 at Number 81 Station, Windsor, rising to the rank of Deputy Captain.
And it didn't stop there. Bryson coached a number of junior soccer teams for the Colo Soccer Club. And on the day before he died he took part in the final leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, held in Windsor, an event which five months earlier he volunteered to organise.
Bryson loved the Hawkesbury area, where he lived and worked most of his adult life.
And innumerable people, from the Hawkesbury and elsewhere, loved and admired Bryson in return. His personnel file is full to overflowing with complimentary remarks and letters of appreciation, many from the community and victims of crime, moved to write in gratitude for the care, dedication and professionalism with which he went about his work.
In Vanuatu, upon hearing of his passing, the villagers whose lives Bryson had so selflessly touched while on holiday held a service in his memory.
He was equally admired by his fellow police officers, myself among them. On the one hand, a tenacious and committed police officer, driven to pursue offenders for the darkest and most serious of crimes. Yet retaining the most extraordinary empathy, compassion and concern for the victims of those crimes.
He showed initiative and leadership; intelligence and perseverance; dedication and humility; and, memorably, a ready smile and an engaging way. Bryson drew people to him, without guile and without effort. The workplace was a better place for him being there.
The tributes from his fellow officers were immediate and many. They tell variously of a proud husband and father, a keen motor cyclist, an active participant in sporting clubs, and, invariably, of a superb police officer.
He made his vast store of policing wisdom available to young officers but never imposed it. More likely were those officers to hear from Bryson an encouraging "Just play your natural game, it's first class" - one of his favourite sayings - to go with some tip or insight he'd somehow manage to convey.
Reflecting on her career, one officer … echoing the thoughts of many others I am sure, wrote: "Bryson you are an amazing officer and an even nicer gentleman. I formed this opinion 20 years ago as a naïve female probationary constable. I still hold the same opinion now. You will be truly missed"
There can be no doubt Bryson will be missed.
He lived for the community, died serving it and deserved much better.
His death reminds us that law and order are not givens. They come at a price and that price, on occasion, is a prohibitive one.
With Bryson's death we realise, suddenly, even if belatedly, that ours is a society worth defending.
We realise that our hard won freedoms and protections are vulnerable and easily demolished.
We realise that not only is each individual's life precious and fragile … but that so too is our way of life.
We meet Bryson's death with grief and tears, but that can't be allowed to suffice.
If he could lend us his voice, I'm sure Bryson would agree that now is not the time to be timid or defensive. It is not a time to be apologetic, nor a time for retreat.
The anger and regret we all feel - for Bryson's sake and for the sake of all of the officers who have fallen before him - need to find constructive expression. As a society we need to rise up to repudiate violence, however and wherever we can, with all the energy we can muster.
For his wider police family … of which all police officers and their families are a part … Bryson's death will neither be forgotten nor be in vain. Bryson's courage and conviction inspire us now … and will into the future. We will continue to protect and serve the community as Bryson did. Of that he can be sure.
It is my honour today to posthumously confer two awards on Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson.
The National Police Service Medal: recognising Bryson's ethical and diligent service in protecting the community.
And the Commissioner's Valour Award for the conspicuous action and exceptional courage he displayed at the incident in Oakville where he lost his life. After being attacked with a knife and sustaining wounds that would prove fatal, Detective Inspector Anderson went to the aid of a fellow injured officer without hesitation.
In part the valour citation reads:
Conferred for conspicuous merit and exceptional bravery whilst under attack during the execution of his duties at Oakville on Thursday, 6 December 2012.
By his conspicuous actions and exceptional courage in a dangerous situation, Detective Inspector Anderson evinced the highest standards of the New South Wales Police Force and is so conferred with the Commissioner's Valour Award.
I am deeply honoured, and indeed privileged, to be able to represent every member of the New South Wales Police Force here today to farewell a man who served his community with courage, honour, and distinction.
A loving husband and father.
A prized friend and colleague.
A police officer.
Our prayers are with you Bryson. May you rest in peace.
Homily for the Funeral Mass for Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson, St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta, Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP, Bishop of Parramatta
Wednesday, 12 December 2012 02:57:38 PM
Any death is a loss. The death of a loved one before time is worse. A senseless, violent, innocent death is even more appalling. But a death in the line of duty hits us especially hard. Why is that?
Our word police comes from the Greek word polis, meaning the city-state, its citizens and civilisation. Police are appointed to keep order in the polis and protect persons and property. The word politician comes from the same root, for they too work for the people, with our bureaucracies and courts. Yet none of these is in the front-line the way police are.
We all shelter behind our police officers' sense of law and order, their character and courage, their instincts, reactions, negotiating and other skills. Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson devoted his life to providing such shelter for his family, friends and community. He lived for this and this was a gift to us all; he died for this and this affronts us all.
His fellow officers also mourn his passing, as Commissioner Scipione testified. I first got to know the Commissioner and his people in the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. It was a time when hundreds of thousands of youth threw them kisses and told them God loved them and they loved them. If only it was always so! One such beloved of God and people was described in our first Scripture reading today (Wisdom 4:7-15). Being virtuous, untarnished and God-pleasing, the man in that passage was ready for God sooner than most.
Bryson's fellow officers tell me he was such a man, and that his integrity inspired them. That his death has left them in shock is a sign of that bond within the police family said to be as thick as blood.
Of course, policing was literally in Bryson's blood, as his father and brother both served in the force, Rex for many years here in Parramatta. When I saw Donna and the family after the terrible news, there were policemen present as if they were his own brothers. Such a death must make all officers aware of their own mortality, must bring to the surface daily anxiety for the safety of the public, their comrades and themselves, and so too for beloved spouses who might be widowed or children orphaned. But it also brings out into the open their fraternity and courage.
Thousands are here today to pray for Bryson and the Anderson family, to share in their natural sorrow and supernatural hope. But proud as they must be and however comforted by our presence, they still have the very personal grief of ones who've lost husband, father, son and brother.
Perhaps they are asking themselves: How could an argument over a bird cage end so horribly? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God permit such things? Well, God could have made us robots, obedient to His every command. Instead He took the great 'gamble' of making us free, able to choose good or evil. He does everything to persuade, encourage, inspire us to live lives of service and self-sacrifice.
Some of us do. Most of us try. Some don't. When bushfires, floods or other natural evils hurt innocent people, we know that these are part and parcel of a world that is beautiful and bountiful but has its own law and order.
The real mystery for us is man-made evil: why human beings do terrible things to each other, why they misuse the godlike gifts of freedom and intelligence. Like those in our first reading, we "look on uncomprehending". Few of us will face death by an assailant's knife or have that happen in our family. But when our own crosses come, we too must try to make some sense of it. In Jesus Christ, we believe, God fully embraced our human condition, including His own violent death as an innocent man before his time.
Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer? Because that was where humanity was. To redeem us, He had to go where we are. So God became a real human being, with friends and enemies, hopes and fears, who wept for His dead friend Lazarus, and later cried out tired, frightened, abandoned.
God in Jesus Christ is the great realist: no evasion, no false front, no easy escape; no pretending away the sin of the world or the suffering of ordinary lives. But He did what any man, any God-made-man, could do.
The problem of evil drives some to atheism, some to despair. But it draws some to the Crucified One, to unite their sufferings with His, as He united His whole being with them at Christmas and beyond.
This doesn't 'magic away' all that is unpleasant; we may still ache that someone we love has been stolen from us. Our hearts may be troubled as Jesus' was (John 12:27, 13:31). But in time faith can bring new perspective, the courage to face the human condition, the grace to grow through this stage of our life, and compassion for others who suffer also.
Any faith or philosophy worthy of us must face evil straight on. Every police officer knows this. Euphemisms and positive thinking will not do; neither will glorifying evil or emptying it of its mystery. From the side of the Crucified God flows the blood and water of human life and death. But from there, too, flows hope for every hurting heart, every fragile person, even for the dead.
2012 is the sesquicentenary of the New South Wales Police Force and was supposed to be a year of celebration for them. Yet it began with the killing of Senior Constable Dave Rixon and ends with the killing of Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson. He is the 14th to be killed on duty since 1980. Death is no respecter of office, rank or character. And so this week a family, a force, a whole state join Christ in His Passion. We are joined with Him in His mortal combat with evil: proposing the good and beautiful and true to all; preventing violence and injustice where we can; comforting the victims, those who suffer for justice's sake and those who mourn them.
In our Gospel passage, Christ called Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life for every troubled heart (John 14:1-6). His life offers us the way, as it did to Bryson, the way of justice, mercy and peace. Christ's death offers us the truth, as it did for Bryson, the truth about human fragility and promise, freedom and intelligence for good or evil. And His Resurrection offers us the life, as it does for Bryson, life eternal for every noble soul.
2012 should have been a year of celebration for police officers and still it should be: a celebration of what is most worthy in the force and in those who bring it credit. It should have been a time of pride and joy for the Anderson family: that will come later, as they treasure what Bryson gave to them and to us all.
But for now: "We seem to be giving Bryson back to you, O God, who gave him to us.
Yet, as you did not lose him in giving him to us, so we do not lose him by his return. For
you do not give as the world gives, O Lover of souls: what you give you never take
away … For life is eternal, and love immortal, and death is only an horizon, and the
horizon is no more than the limit of our sight.
"Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further. Cleanse our tearful eyes that
we may see more clearly. Draw us closer to yourself, that we may know ourselves to be
nearer to Bryson, now that he is with you. And while you prepare a place for us (John
14:1-6), prepare us also for that happy place, that where you and he are, we may be
also, for evermore." (Prayer of Fr Bede Jarrett OP)
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