Shoppers aid constable

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 1

Shoppers aid constable

By

GRANT BRADLEY

The number of people who were willing to help a policeman in trouble was a great comfort to Constable Alex de Kort who was last evening nursing a swollen lip, cut cheek, and sore legs after being felled by two punches in a Shirley carpark yesterday. “It was tremendous to see how many people came forward to help,” he said after the incident in the Maxi Mart carpark. Constable de Kort was knocked to the ground after seeing two men allegedly trying to convert a car at 12.15 p.m. “When I went up to talk to them I was decked — luckily my glasses were not broken.” The manager of a nearby travel agency was quickly on the scene and he too was punched as the pair fled. Other people from shops also came out to help. “It is good to see that there are a lot of good

folk about. As a policeman you tend to get a bit twisted and cynical.” Constable de Kort has been Shirley’s community officer for the last three years. He joined the police in 1960. Although he has been struck by prisoners, has had pepper thrown in his face during an escape, and has been in an occasional struggle, yesterday’s incident was the most violent during his time as a community constable. “Some people say we get paid for it, but you never get used to being hit,” he said. Many police had to face more violent incidents resulting in serious injuries almost daily. However, being knocked flat by a “fit young bloke” was what hurt most, said Constable de Kort, who is 53. “As you get a little older it hurts a little more.” Police reinforcements quickly apprehended one of the men in North

Parade. He will face charges of assault and unlawfully interfering

with a car. The other man had not been found last evening.