Warren Proops
Warren Proops is a stalwart NSW Police Legacy supporter, mentor, advocate, and volunteer. He is also a Police Legatee. In 1993, when Warren was just ten years old, his father, Sergeant John Proops, died on duty. That day, Warren and his two older brothers became Police Legatees, and Warren remains forever grateful for the support they have all received over the years.
“Legacy’s always been there, through the hard times,” he says. “There’s always someone to answer the phone, or someone to meet up with and talk about things, who knows what you’re going through.”
Warren on the Kokoda Trek in 2019
As a younger man, struggling with what it meant to grow up without a father, Warren turned to Legacy for help and was given the opportunity to participate in one of the greatest challenges of his life to date: The Kokoda Trek. “It showed me friendship, mateship, family and determination.”
The Trek was so formative, and so character-building, that he decided to participate again in 2019, but this time with an eye to giving back to the young Legatees taking part. His second trek allowed him not only to assist the young ones going through their own mental and emotional journeys, but also gave him the opportunity to walk alongside Commissioner Fuller.
Warren has also given back over the years by volunteering on Police Legacy Adventure Camps, where his calm and enthusiastic assistance is always a welcome asset. Tragedy has shaped his life but he hasn’t let it define him. Through Police Legacy, he says, he has made some lifelong friends. And having grown up in the Police Legacy family, he is now raising a family of his own.
“I’ve got a son now,” says Warren, his face full of tenderness when he talks about his little boy. “One of the things I do is give him a cuddle and a kiss and say I love him every time I leave the house, because Dad went to work one day and never returned.”
