Matiu Ratana: Colleagues pay tribute to 'inspiring' officer

Friends and colleagues of Sgt Matiu Ratana, fatally shot at Croydon Custody Centre last year, have attended a memorial service for an "inspiring police officer" at Guards Chapel, Westminster.

The BBC has heard from Metropolitan Police officers who worked alongside New Zealander Sgt Ratana, known to friends as Matt, during his 29 years of service.

His funeral, held last year at the height of the pandemic, had to be kept small, but former colleagues hope the memorial service will be a celebration of his life.

"Matt had a way that just made things better," says Sgt Martin Christianson, who worked alongside him in Hackney for six years until 2016.

This extended from defusing violent situations on the streets to keeping his team policing Notting Hill Carnival well supplied with coffee and snacks, Sgt Christianson recalls.

"He had a presence about him that he would just deal with things. People were never scared of Matt. You were always in awe of him."

"When you saw Matt Ratana's name you thought, 'we're safe, it's going to be a good day'.

"His personality overrode everything. He was such a great bloke. He was like a force of nature. He inspired people to go the extra yard, he inspired people to push themselves - even me and I'm close to retirement age.

"He had the ability to make police officers and the public feel safe, purely by his presence there.

"If the world was full of Matt Ratanas, it would be a better place."

Sgt Christianson thinks, "if one believes in the afterlife", that Sgt Ratana will enjoy his memorial.

"He's upstairs, he's looking down, he'll be grinning. He had a massive grin.

"He'll be smiling being centre of attention, because Matt did like to be centre of attention at times, and if Matt loves it, we should all love it."

Another former Hackney colleague, Acting Insp Chrissie Smethem, had just been promoted to sergeant when the pair first met. They often did overtime together, running the custody suite in the north-east London borough.

"He's one of the first people I met when I went to Hackney," she remembers.

"He sort of bounded up like a happy cocker spaniel puppy and introduced himself, and once you've met Matt you can't forget him.

"He was sort of a louder version of a human."

Whether he was talking to colleagues or members of the public, and even if he knew nothing about them, Matt would "deliberately make conversation", she remembers.

"And it was sort of infectious. You couldn't help but join in."

Acting Insp Smethem says this personality helped to calm down stressful situations, particularly in custody suites where "people are quite distressed, quite upset or disgruntled".

Some of her best memories are of a police officers' motorbike tour of Germany organised by Sgt Ratana.

"Matt found out that I had a bike, and that resulted in a whole series of 2am phone calls when I was on duty to get me to join in."

She had been a bit nervous about taking on the journey with her level of biking experience, but was persuaded to go.

On Acting Insp Smethem's first day on the autobahn, she was riding at the back of the group.

"I was busy trying to keep concentrating."

Then she noticed Matt, who had moved alongside her, "chatting away to me, gesticulating wildly, making sure I was OK at 80 miles an hour".

She says this was key to his personality, someone who would look out for his friends "under any circumstances".

In neighbouring Islington, Chief Insp Darren Jones first met Sgt Ratana more than a decade ago.

"Matt was fantastic," he remembers.

When they bumped into each other, he recalls, there was always the sense of "Matt's here, it's going to be a bit of a laugh".

He adds: "It was always light humoured with Matt, and whenever you had to deal with a difficult situation, he used that humour to try and appease the other party.

"Use of force was always the last option with Matt. If he could win someone over with his personality, that would always be the first port of call."

Sgt Ratana was an extremely experienced public order police officer and knew the legislation inside out - but his main strategy was conversation, says Mr Jones.

"That was his best asset as a police officer, his ability to talk to people and the friendliness.

"You always find a common ground and win them over that way, rather than needing to use any legal framework or an escalation of force.

"People couldn't help but like him, even if they were anti-police."

This strategy worked 99% of the time, says Mr Jones.

On Monday, he will join colleagues to remember the positivity Sgt Ratana brought to his life.

"His drive and passion to look after people, especially his friends, that warmth that you felt when Matt was around, that's what's going to be with me.

"It's right that we give him the best send-off."