The Lake Illawarra cop helping to stop child abuse one step at a time

At 3am each day this Lake Illawarra police detective's alarm goes off and he goes running. It's not the casual jog or few kilometres that most of us aspire to, most mornings he does a half marathon, that's 21 kilometres.

At work he's often investigating child sexual assault and child abuse cases in the Illawarra, it's a tough job and running helps him "unpack" what he sees, it also helps him plan.

This region is far from immune to these crimes, he said, and while he can't talk specific cases he said many are "horrific".

"Children who are in the care of someone that they should be able to trust," he said.

Often the perpetrators don't think what they are doing is wrong.

"They don't see that what they're doing is an issue," Det Snr Const said. "Not so much the child sexual assault, but the child abuse material. The people who do have that, they don't see that as an issue because it's something that they download, [they think] there's no victims in it.

"Well there is [victims] because they're kids in those videos, and that's enabling someone else to go out there and do what they're doing to those children because there's an audience."

Det Snr Const Quigley only started running a year ago and it's helping him to solve crimes.

"I think about the jobs that I have [while] running and the direction that they can take," he said. "I'm out there for just under two hours, I've got plenty of time to think."

During the last 12 months he's run the equivalent of 200 half marathons. He's also competed in 12 full marathons and four ultra marathons.

For those doing the sums that's more than 5300 kilometres - that's like running from Wollongong to Perth and a third of the way back again.

That's a lot of running and planning for how he can help keep kids safe.

Child safety and preventing cases of abuse and sexual assault is a cause so close to this police officer's heart, that he's putting his body on the line to make a difference.

He's registered to take part in the Bravehearts 777 Marathon where he will run in seven marathons, across seven states and territories, in seven consecutive days during July 2024.

That's a 295 kilometres.

He's not nervous, yet, and he's already hard at work training so he'll be able to achieve his mission.

"I'm just trying to get as many kilometers in the legs," he said.

Every dollar he raises through his fundraising page will help Australian child protection charity Bravehearts which is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse.

"Braveheart is all about the education, they're not only just about the support for the victims, but they're about the education," he said.

They teach families the signs they should be looking out for, and they teach children to speak up if something's not right.

Bravehearts 777 Marathon runs form July 1 - 7, 2024.

Braveheart has a wealth of information on its website, including signs of child sexual abuse and its effects on children. There's also definitions of child grooming and consent, and myths about child sexual abuse.

Det Snr Const Quigley's wife, Amanda, is also a police officer and they are both hypervigilant for the safety of their four and six year old sons.

They read books to their kids so they know what's right and wrong, they also have the five names of people