A police officer standing at a cordon by a wrecked or unstable building, on a dangerous piece of road or near a flooded plain, or being flown into disaster areas, is a reminder of how our members are the ones who must go to and remain in places of risk to protect others.

Northland police teams are under siege – gang and drug activity from outside and staffing problems from within. At least that’s the way it’s feeling to the staff and their supervisors. Ellen Brook reports.

Sergeant Jonathan Westrupp has no recollection of diving head first through the glass of a second-storey bathroom window during an armed siege in April. Moments beforehand, however, he knows he made a calculated decision that it was the best option to get away from a wanted man who had just shot and killed a police dog in the hallway of the Porirua house. Ellen Brook reports.

Last month, Police lost one of its four-legged own when police dog Gazza was killed in the line of duty during an incident in Porirua when an officer was also injured. When police dogs are injured or killed, the whole country responds. The loss is felt deeply, not only by the dog section, but also the Police Dog Trust, which helps fund the breeding and training of our heroic police dogs. Heather McDonald reports on the trust’s vision for the future.

Spotlight on the Asset Recovery Unit: A blow to the hip pocket of drug dealers and fraudsters is proving to be one of the most potent crime-fighting tools. By Ellen Brook

Talk about a bad day on the beat: The day that Community Constable Toddy Martin got stabbed in the face is one he’s had to talk about quite a lot since – reporting to his superiors and to OSH and talking to colleagues. And that’s been good, he says. Not just for him, but for the other officers who were involved and those who heard about it later. By Ellen Brook