Senior Constable Terri Middleton says she is awestruck and deeply honoured to be named as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

“I have received so many very humbling messages, from victims, young people who are now adults, cops, ex-cops, the community – it has been a little overwhelming as I don’t think [police officers] really realise the positive impact that we can have.”

Receiving the 2025 King’s Birthday honour for her services to Police and her beloved West Coast community prompted the 59-year-old to jot down some of the memorable experiences from her 34-year career.

“So many stories and so much work that I had just put into a box in my head and filed away. I don’t talk a lot about things I have done. Once I started writing, I just couldn’t stop.”

More than 4000 words later, Terri is amazed at how much she has achieved “all while raising three gorgeous young men, my sons, while in Police”. Below is an extract from Terri’s “jottings”.

In at the deep end

After a night out with mates [I found] some Dutch courage and decided to follow my dream of being a police officer. I joined Police in 1991, aged 25.

“For scope, I was sent to Queenstown. My first memorable job was at a house where the eccentric owner had died and family were worried he had booby-trapped it. It was secure apart from the toilet window.

As the smallest junior cop, up I went. I wriggled through the window and then slipped, getting my boot stuck in the toilet – not a great feeling. I got my foot out and crept around, searching for wires and booby traps before finally letting the troops in to help pull my boot out of the toilet.

“I was stoked and knew that I had made the best decision by becoming a police officer. Working frontline was my dream and I loved it. Then I came to the West Coast to work for two years… I am still here.

“My first trip to Westport was during protests. We arrived and came across a group of very angry men with weapons. Back then, we only had a wooden baton and had to be good communicators. We seized a wooden bat with hobnails in it, knives, more bats, and nunchucks – two golf balls attached with a chain. Welcome to the Wild West Coast.

“Another incident was a rescue at sea. I was sent out over the Greymouth bar to help out. It was rough as guts and so much fun. The ship was huge and we had to catch a wave to get up high enough. I was on the deck holding on and, next minute, a man with a big bandage on his hand was thrown from the boat. Thankfully, I managed to catch hold of him. Then a plastic bag was thrown my way – the man’s finger was inside.”

Called up to the majors

‘I’ve been involved with many significant events. After the Cave Creek [viewing platform collapse] in 1995, I ended up in the watch house taking the many phone calls from relatives and media. I then helped out at the mortuary. It was very sad seeing so many people, especially as most were my age or younger – 14 people died that day.

“In 2010, when the Pike River mine exploded, I was on sick leave and asked if I could help. I was called in to do family liaison. I didn’t sleep for the first couple of days. It was a nightmare, trying to support families, the lack of information, no base to work from, no work cell phone and all the media attention

The moment the families gathered and were told their men were dead is one I will never forget – the scene, the noise, the smell. People I cared about screaming, crying, collapsing, praying, swearing, vomiting. I felt so sorry for these families. All their grieving had to be done in the public arena. Twenty-eight men and a teenager died. We had two survivors.

“In 2011, I was part of the responder and reassurance team after the Canterbury earthquake. It was great to be able to help and take a load off the Canterbury police. It was a surreal experience to see the city in the state it was, those red bricks all crumbled to the ground, the shock, the sadness and the resilience, especially of the elderly. Yet we were also rushing to so many 1X events (attempted suicide) mainly involving the younger ones.”

The worst of times

"Suicides are always difficult and I attended too many. One of my first was a missing 18-year-old lad. I went out to try to locate him. I did. He had shot himself. I had to clean the inside of his vehicle and undress and tidy him up, ready to be identified by his parents, who were also collecting his vehicle. It was very sad. Next job that day was rushing up the Coast road to try to locate a geezer who was exposing himself to cyclists. The day of their boy’s funeral, the family sent me flowers.

“I remember a complaint from a lady about her ex-husband… I rang him and could tell he was sad about the separation and loss of contact with his children. He said he wouldn’t ring her again. Later I rang him back just to talk. He had planned to kill himself. He had a loaded firearm, had written a suicide note and was just going to answer the phone and then get the job done. I organised staff in Hokitika to attend while talking to him. I was so relieved that he had opened up to me.

“I very quickly became involved in dealing with victims of sexual abuse. I was a trained evidential and diagnostic interviewer for children. I interviewed and investigated many very sad cases. It was difficult, but after doing these interviews for nearly 10 years and feeling like I was at the bottom of the cliff, struggling with a case involving a badly abused young boy, angry at how it was being dealt with and also having had enough of the way our victims were treated in court, I knew it was time to get out of this role.”

Blessed are the children

"The experiences I had on the frontline and in CAT/SAT (child abuse team/ sexual abuse team) gave me the passion to try to make a difference through prevention.

“In 2001, a position came up in Youth Education and then I started as a school community officer (SCO) in 2002. I really believe in prevention and the work SCOs do. We can identify possible future victims and offenders and make a difference.

“I am very proud of my fellow SCOs and the education we provide – from road safety, cyber safety and Kia Kaha (anti-bullying) to Loves-Me-Not (healthy relationships for teens) and Keeping Ourselves Safe (child protection). Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS) was an important programme that I desperately wanted to get into all 36 West Coast schools.

“Gloriavale Christian Community’s school was my biggest challenge. I was determined to get involved there even though they did not welcome outsiders. Senior Constable Mike Tinnelly had a good relationship with one of the shepherds so I went with him when he was doing a firearms check. I certainly got some hairy eyeballs from suspicious adults and many shy and scared looks from children. I noticed some children riding bikes without helmets. I saw a way in – road safety education. From there, the relationship grew – slowly.

“My first lessons, I had shepherds and parents sitting around the class, outnumbering the students. Now, we have just one teacher there. My dream was to get KOS into the school. We did that and to this day Gloriavale is the only secondary school that we teach it at.”

The best of times

"I have been able to do many things in Police – warrants, drug operations, so much. I was also in search and rescue – I was very chuffed to be the first woman on the squad.

“Being a police officer has been an amazing experience, especially on the West Coast. It can be challenging but also very rewarding and it is a privilege to be involved in so many people’s life experiences.

“I have learnt in my time in Police that we all make a difference in the roles we do – from our non-sworn staff, who keep the wheels turning and supporting us, to our sworn staff who work hard supporting the community, trying to prevent harm and going into harmful situations.

“Our people are the biggest asset for Police and I believe they all deserve to be recognised.”