New Zealand Police

In the early 2000s, Luther Taloa went looking for them.

He had spent 30 years in the New Zealand Police and then worked as an investigator for the Police Watchdog, and he went at it the way an investigator would.

Going through the record of who had been on board, he noticed that the Europeans were recorded with their full names, ages, nicknames, and nationalities, while many of the Pacific people had been written down with only one name.

So he traced the families of 23 of the 25, everyone except the captain and the mate, and he worked out the full names and details of every one of the people who had been on board.

Volunteer agencies like Coast Guard and Surf Life Saving and Landsar are very common.

And of course we work very closely with the New Zealand Police who are the other search and rescue coordinating authority in New Zealand.

Between the two of us, we look after all of the incidents that might come across the search and rescue desk, so to speak.

Yeah, I mean, a pretty big remit, like you said, all the way to Antarctica, essentially.

What did they say to you?

Uh, they said that the investigation was, uh, not at the standard, uh, anyone should expect from the New Zealand Police.

Um, and I think the biggest feeling I take away from that was that it was genuine.

I, I didn't want an apology from anybody if it didn't, if it wasn't genuine.

Because the role values maturity, resilience, leadership and life experience, many people discover it later in their career journeys.

But things are changing and many young people might not know you can apply at age 17 and as long as you're 18 when entering the Royal New Zealand Police College, we're all go.

So that's one of the reasons we're recording today's episode.

A career in policing is often less about your age and more about your character, values and suitability to the role.

While many officers bring valuable life experience before joining, today's conversation may help some students recognise that they already possess many of the qualities New Zealand police are looking for.

If you're someone who enjoys working with people, thrives in a team, demonstrates resilience, integrity and leadership, then policing could be a pathway well worth considering.

Another aspect worth highlighting is policing is far more than enforcing law.

After studying human performance science at the University of Waikato, you built an impressive career with Waikato Rugby, progressing from girls activator to leading women's and girls rugby across the region, creating opportunities for thousands of young people.

25 years in the force.

He was the 1971 New Zealand Police Sportsman of the Year and worked up until not too long ago, I think.

He had a pub called the Ashley Hotel.

He played 24 tests and scored 25 tries in 50 matches for the Kiwis.

The project control group included representation from Austroads members from Queensland, New South Wales, New Zealand, Tasmania, Northern Territory and South Australia.

I'm grateful for their involvement and particularly also wanted to acknowledge Tony Boyd from New South Wales Police and Steve Greeley from New Zealand Police.

And finally, our project team, Claire Campbell was our project manager and lead author for the guide.

We also had Martin Small and Hafez Alabi working on Workstream 1, Blair Turner and Soames Jobe working on Workstream 2, Eric Howard, Ping Sim and Alison McIntyre working on Workstream 3.