NZ cop wins Aussie bravery award

New Zealand Sergeant Murray Stapp. Photo / Supplied

MELBOURNE - A policeman never goes on holiday - just ask New Zealand Sergeant Murray Stapp who arrested an armed man who had just dragged a motorist from his car in Melbourne and then attempted to drive off.

Mr Stapp, from Hamilton, was one of more than 80 people, including 13 police officers, who received bravery awards from the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, at Government House today.

Mr Stapp, 58, was on holiday with his wife, visiting their daughter in Melbourne in July 2008, when they saw the carjack taking place in a supermarket carpark in the inner city suburb St Kilda.

"I had just come out of the supermarket and my daughter, who had been sitting in the car, told me a young man had pulled an elderly man out of his Mercedes at knife point," Mr Strapp said.

The laconic Kiwi said he ran over to the car, had a discussion with the offender through the car window "and then he told me to go away, and waved the knife at me".

But the New Zealand policeman was not be to deterred and found the back door of the car was opened and jumped in "to continue his discussion".

"We had quite a violent, but very short struggle - he slashed at me a couple of times with the knife, but then gave up," said Mr Stapp, who was awarded the Commendation for Brave Conduct.

"I did a lot of yelling, told him I was a police officer and that he wasn't taking the car."

He then pulled the man from the slowly moving vehicle, which then crashed into parked cars, and held him on the ground until police arrived.

It's not the first time Mr Stapp has arrested someone while on holiday.

A few years ago, when he was visiting Auckland with his family, he apprehended another man stealing a car - but that time there was no weapon involved.

"I've got the police training and know-how, but to see the other people here (who risked their lives), that's pretty special," he said.

"My wife tells me I never go on holiday, but when it comes down to it, just like ordinary Australians or New Zealanders, you do the right thing."

Victorian Chief Commissioner Simon Overland agreed that police don't take holidays, even when they are on holiday.

"That's the thing - you swear an oath and that's it - you are then more or less on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said.

"If you see something, and it's safe, you are expected to get involved even if you are in another country.

"And what a fantastic story about the sergeant from New Zealand, who effectively arrests the offender - a real hero."

Prof de Kretser said the awards showed that humans were capable of extraordinary capacity to respond in time of danger, and of disregarding their own personal safety.

"They have enriched our society by their actions," he said.

- AAP