Once upon a time nothing good came when the words Mick Cutajar and police were mentioned in the same sentence.
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But the Wollongong man and the law are literally on the same page nowadays.
So much so that the Australasian Institute of Policing (AiPol) has published a paper written by Mr Cutajar.
The paper which deals on the increased needs for both security and police departments, comes 21 years after Mr Cutajar spent time in jail for robbery.
‘’The fact that it was picked up by a police journal caught me and my lecturer off guard,’’ he said.
‘’I can’t believe the police picked it up and published it in a journal considering what I did 21 years ago.
I guess my relationship with police has gone full-circle really.
- Mick Cutajar
‘’I’m really happy that they have. I guess my relationship with police has gone full-circle really.’’
The paper is published in Volume 9, Number 1, 2017 of the Journal of the Australasian Institute of Policing.
‘’It’s primarily about the gap between police and military for general security and those who deal with the public,’’ Mr Cutajar said.
The well-known Wollongong martial artist originally presented the paper at an international conference on policing and terrorism.
Mr Cutajar was supposed to fly out to Abu Dhabi last November to present the paper but 12 hours before organisers pulled the plug and he along with four other conference speakers had to present their talks via video feed.
‘’My past I guess caught up with me there. But I still got to present the paper via video and good things have happened ever since,’’ he said.
One of those good things was completing his Master of Terrorism and Securities Studies degree at Charles Sturt University.
The 49-year-old said doing this helped him during a very difficult time in his life.
Mr Cutajar is still battling depression and anxiety, but knows things could have been much worse had he not had an outlet of reading and studying.
‘’People said to stop uni but reading and doing the course saved my life,’’ he said.
‘’I quit school when I was 14 but nowadays I’m all for the saying you’re never too old to study.
‘’A lot of the good things that are happening now are because of the courses I’m studying.
‘’It’s also given me so much more confidence to try new things in life. This includes writing a book called Safe & Effective Tackling Methods.’’