Little Roothie is one of the newest members at the Queanbeyan police station, but unlike the real police officers she mostly sleeps all day.
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The eight-month-old joey was rescued from her mother's pouch after the mother was hit by a car and had to be euthanised by police.
The constables tasked with putting the mother out of her misery took the young joey to the vet before it was placed with Wildcare-accredited carer Constable Tori Murray.
Now the two are almost inseparable. Constable Murray feeds Roothie five times a day in the hopes the joey will be able to be released back to the wild one day.
She said it's a circuit breaker from her day-to-day work in crime prevention, and it helps others in the office too.
"[Raising Roothie] doesn't interfere with work, so why not. As a police officer you're there in the community to help, and a lot of people in the community care about wildlife and about animal welfare," she said.
"Our work environment here is brilliant because we have very supportive bosses."
Roadkill, and consequently orphaned joeys, are such a common problem in the area that each Queanbeyan police patrol vehicle with a material bag which acts as a makeshift pouch where officers can put the baby kangaroos safely until they're able to take them to the vet or Wildcare.
Wildcare is a volunteer-run organisation with a 24 hour a day hotline to report injured or orphaned native wildlife. Wildcare rescues, rehabilitates and releases native wildlife in the NSW area surrounding the ACT.
Constable Murray trained with Wildcare after seeing so many dead kangaroos as roadkill in the area. She acts as a volunteer for the organisation, and buys formula and medication for the joeys in her care.
"I'd heard of a few people trying to help the orphaned joeys and I thought I might as well do the course," Constable Murray said.
"It was really worthwhile, if you can contribute a little bit extra back, it's important. It's very satisfying but not all joeys make it, and that can be heartbreaking."
Monaro Police District Inspector Sandy Green said she often visits Constable Murray when Roothie is at the office.
"It's become a bit of an icon I suppose," Inspector Green said.
"It is very satisfying because there is so many wildlife killed on the road, or badly injured and they have to be put down. It's been great to have this little Roothie survive and now be part of the team."
Inspector Green said it was a very positive thing for the police.
"We deal with so much tragedy and this is just a lovely little story, after so much tragedy for animals and humans and people losing loved ones.
"It's not very often we are the bearers of good news, so it's really an honour to have this little glimmer of light in our office."
The drought has caused a spike in animal collisions across New South Wales and the ACT. In 2018, NRMA Insurance received 14,752 claims for an animal collision, which was a 21.7 per cent jump on the 12,122 received in 2017.
ACT Parks and Conservation director Daniel Iglesias previously told the Sunday Canberra Times that greater numbers of kangaroos were moving out of the bush and towards roads in search of greenery as a result, often with fatal consequences.
To report injured wildlife phone Wildcare on 6299 1966. To find out more about becoming a carer, go to wildcare.com.au.