Edna Pearce

Edna Pearce was one of the first ten women to begin police training on June 3rd, 1941. The recruits were selected by the Police Commissioner Denis Cummings. They needed to have ‘superior education’, common sense, know shorthand and be able to type. They also had to be single or widowed and over the age of 25. Edna, a kindergarten teacher and keen gymnast met the criteria perfectly.

After finishing her training Edna was posted to Auckland and attached to the detective branch. In the early days of working there she was confined to working on cases involving women and children. Like the rest of her intake, she wasn't issued with a uniform but was expected to wear smart civilian dress complete with hat, gloves and handbag. In November of her first year Edna was the first policewomen to make an arrest.

A highlight of her career was being seconded to the Department of Internal Affairs to take charge of an internment camp for Japanese women and children at Pokeno, in the Waikato. The internees were families of traders operating in the Pacific Islands. Her duties included teaching correspondence school, arranging medical treatment, ensuring adequate supplies of food and censoring correspondence.

In August 1943 an attempt was made to transfer the internees to Australia by a Liberator aircraft. It crashed in the Mangere swamp killing three women and four children. Edna was called upon to identify the dead and the hospitalised survivors who were eventually returned to her care. Later that year she accompanied the group to Australia on the protected ship MV Wahine. Some of the Japanese women continued to correspond with her as they waited out the war in Australia. Their letters show how much they appreciated her care while interned in New Zealand.

In 1944 Constable Pearce returned to her duties in Auckland. When policewomen went into uniform in December 1952, she was given the collar number “1”. In 1954 she went to Hamilton as its first policewoman and remained there until she retired at 60 after completing 25 years’ service.