A 20-year-old New South Wales police constable, Mia Lay, has died after the marked police car she was travelling in struck a tree in Redfern (an inner suburb of Sydney) at around 1:30am on Friday. The officers were responding under lights and sirens to a reported vehicle theft when the crash occurred; a 24-year-old male constable who was driving survived and was taken to hospital in a stable condition. NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon described Lay, who had served for 16 months, as an officer of exceptional promise, while state officials declared a critical incident and the police watchdog said it would monitor the investigation to ensure public confidence.