Policing will always attract headlines. It features in a vast number of daily news stories, be it for crime, tragedy or controversy. Throw into the mix the political football that policing often is and, unfortunately, the picture can quickly turn negative at the expense of all the positives.

The harrowing report into abuse in state care should cause all New Zealanders to pause and consider how this was allowed to happen and, more importantly, ask whether we are sure it is not still happening.

Here we go again… time to resume full alert as politicians threaten anew to upend the past few years’ positive changes in our firearms regulations.

Parliament’s Justice Select Committee has finished hearing submissions on the highly publicised Gangs Legislation Amendment Bill. It aims to prohibit the wearing of gang patches in public places and restrict gangs from congregating in public, and it introduces gang non-association orders.

As this column was being written, we were still in the last stages of the extremely frustrating pay round negotiation process. It is an understatement to say it has let down members when the constant delays have caused them unacceptable hardship, as you will see in our cover story.

Having been around policing for more than 30 years, I know that most members have an opinion or two on most subjects. When it comes to policing, they freely express to their colleagues some fairly strong views on what works and what doesn’t.