LIKE most police officers, heroism for Peter Bridger, Brett Wendt and Paul Coates is just a part of their daily work routine.

But every now and then something so big happens that officers are lifted above the ordinary, such as these three from Ipswich.

Their moment out of the ordinary came on the evening of July 27, 2012, when Senior Constable Bridger, Senior Constable Coates and Senior Sergeant Wendt found themselves chasing a Bonnie and Clyde team of extremely violent armed robbers from Aratula to Killarney.

The crooks eventually lost control of their car and the three officers surrounded the vehicle.

Senior Constable Bridger found himself staring down the barrel of a sawn-off rifle held by the male thug.

Seconds later the gun went off and Senior Constable Bridger dropped to the ground.

Fearing his mate was wounded, Senior Constable Coates shot the offender.

The female robber soon surrendered and the three officers took both crooks into custody.

While the bullet missed Senior Constable Bridger, he ended up with a dislocated wrist from the fall.

One bandit was jailed for 10 years and the other for 11 years.

On Wednesday the three men received the Royal Humane Society of Australasia bronze medal for their bravery that evening.

Senior Constable Bridger - who joined the force nine years ago - said he was humbled to be recognised for simply doing his job.

"Police every day are doing a good job everywhere," the 34-year-old father of six said.

"It feels a little bit funny to be picked out from everyone else who is doing a good job every day."

Like his mate, Senior Constable Coates, a 13-year veteran of the force, was astounded at the attention he received for what he considered to be "nothing out of the ordinary".

"We do the job day in, day out, as do loads of other people in uniform," the 50-year-old father of three said.

"So to have recognition is great, but it is nothing out of the ordinary.

"It's no different to what police officers are doing across the state or across Australia really.

Senior Sergeant Wendt paid homage to the 100 or so other people involved in apprehending the robbers, including those who worked behind the scenes in the police communications centre.

The 46-year-old father of six has been a police officer for more than half his life.

"We're just doing our job," the 25-year career cop said.

"There's a lot of police out there doing a good job every day of the week so to be recognised is a little bit strange.

"We were doing our job."

- APN NEWSDESK