Editorial: The safe recovery of Cleo Smith is the news we needed

Cleo Smith enjoys an iced lolly and waves during a precautionary check-up. Photo / Western Australian Police Force

EDITORIAL

Australians typically take their big-wig officials with a large grain of salt.

So it said a lot when Police Commissioner Chris Dawson and other officers walked into the local pub in Carnarvon, 900km north of Perth, on Wednesday night this week to be greeted with a standing ovation.

Another unlikely episode was Dawson breaking down in tears earlier when he first heard that 4-year-old Cleo Smith had been found after 18 days missing. The 40-year policing veteran was overcome with emotion, his NSW counterpart revealed.

Both scenes tell us how much the hunt for Cleo has meant to the commissioner, his charges and the public.

As we watch the court proceedings for the clearly troubled man accused of Cleo's abduction, and the updates on the family adjusting to the glare of such a world attention-grabbing event, let's cling to the happy scenes of her safe retrieval awhile.

Members of the public provided information that helped lead officers to Cleo. But, given the $1.04m reward for her return is unlikely to be collected, it's clear determined police efforts cracked the case.

This is in an area where old-fashioned is the everyday. There weren't any CCTV cameras; no dash-cam footage on people's cars; transient people move through the campground; and cellphone coverage is patchy, when it exists at all.

"Western Australian Police never gave up on Cleo and it was just good old-fashioned police work that resulted in Cleo being found alive," Dawson told a colleague.

The officers who returned this girl to her mother's arms fully deserve a share of that reward, and a standing ovation from all of us.