Jack Manley: tough but fair.
The community and police fraternity is in mourning after the death of long-time Warrnambool police detective Jack Manley.
Mr Manley, 95, died yesterday. Also known as Sailor Jack, he started in Warrnambool as a detective in 1956 and covered most of south-west Victoria until his retirement on Christmas Day 1977.
He earned a reputation as a tough but fair officer who often worked alone.
He was awarded 19 Chief Commissioner of Police special commendations.
One of his most famous arrests was an escaped criminal in Launceston in 1960 while on a football trip with South Warrnambool Football Club.
“A couple of us went to lunch in a cafe and I recognised an escaped criminal walk in, Ronnie O’Keefe, ‘Yolta,’ they called him.
“Anyway, he had been shot and wounded by police in Melbourne about three months before and escaped police guard in hospital,” Mr Manley later told The Standard.
“… I marched up to him, took him down, gave him a big surprise and charged him with unlawful possession. I brought him back to Melbourne on the plane with the players at the end of the footy trip.”
Mr Manley was believed to have held the honour of being Victoria’s longest-serving detective.