1. What first made you join Police and what is your current role?
There were a number of reasons. My mother was a non-sworn member for about 26 years and my father was a Corrections officer at Kaitoke Prison (Whanganui) for 27 years, so law enforcement was something I grew up with and had an ambition to go into. In my late teens I was assaulted while out night clubbing. Once I got off the ground and away from the offenders, they beat to death a 40-year-old man. The interaction I had with detectives at that time spurred my ambition to become an investigator. I was encouraged to gain more life experience before joining, so I became a cabinet maker. In 2009, I was self-employed in the building industry, I was building a house for me and my wife and we were expecting our first child. At that time, the recession was beginning to affect Northland. This was when I decided to pursue a career in Police, not only to satisfy my lifelong ambition but also as job security for my young family. Once I was through the recruiting process, it took until 2011 before a position became available in my preferred location. My current role is as a detective in the Child Protection Team in Kaikohe.

2. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve had in your policing career?
Creating a good work/life balance and putting your work phone away when at home. As they say, “happy wife, happy life”.

3. What drew you to governance roles with the Police Association?
I have been with the Mid Far North subcommittee for more than 10 years and held positions such as secretary, chairperson and conference delegate. This opened my eyes to a whole other side to the business, especially the delegate role. To be honest, I thought the deputy director and director roles would more than likely be held by someone in Auckland. That was until I was told that I should consider stepping forward as a candidate and that the fact I am in a rural area brings something different to the table. My interest was then sparked. It is an opportunity to learn another level of how the association works.

4. What’s the biggest issue for fellow members in your region right now?
Staffing, the lack of. Particularly public safety teams (PST) in the Mid North. It is at a dire level, the worst I have seen it in my 14 years in the job. Investigations in the Far North is also very low on numbers. The workload does not stop in these areas, and it is at a point where we will see staff burning out. The out-of-town staff we have had injected into the district with Operation Tai Pari has been hugely appreciated by staff, clearing some of our backlog and assisting us to keep on top of fresh work. I do see a future hurdle with this, however, in the increased Prosecutions workload assigned to district staff.

5. Where do you believe the association’s focus needs to be in the next few years?
Preparation for the upcoming constabulary pay round is going to be hugely important for the association to keep trust and confidence with the members. Also, I feel the association is going to have quite a bit of work to do around overtime pay and conditions.

6. What’s one change you’d love to see for members?
A reduction in the number of steps in the pay bands.

7. How would you describe yourself?
Light-hearted, hardworking, perfectionist, family guy (I have four children).

8. If your colleagues had to sum you up in three words, what might they (truthfully!) say?
Dependable, thorough, hardworking.

9. How do you switch off after work (we’ve heard you cook a mean steak)?
Listening to rock and heavy metal music while cooking on one of my seven charcoal barbecues and sipping a hazy beer. Hunting is also a lifelong passion.

10. What’s something about you that might surprise people?
I collect diecast cars, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, GreenLight, Auto World, with close to 5000 in my collection.