Inspired by the Humans of New York photoblog, we’re showcasing some of the incredible stories and experience of people throughout our organisation.
Stephen, Communications advisor/Ten One editor, Media and Communications
I joined Police in January 2011 and very soon the Canterbury earthquakes made me realise it wouldn’t be like anywhere else I’d worked.
I was born in England but with Kiwi genes going back to a great-grandmother born here in 1861. My father was an Auckland builder’s son who went to war in 1939, returned, met my mum, and together they went to the Congo as missionaries.
When revolution came in 1960 they escaped with their lives, four kids and little else. They were evacuated to England, where I was born a couple of years later after their adventuring was over.
Career-wise, I worked for 20 years on newspapers in London and around western and southern England. My last UK job was chief sub-editor, responsible for the editing, design and production of a four-edition daily.
We came to New Zealand in 2005 – me, Patricia, Will (then 12), and Edward (5). I worked on the Dominion Post but wanted a new challenge which led to two very interesting years working in the Wellington Mayor’s Office.
I joined Police as Executive Comms advisor, producing speech notes and other writing for the Commissioner and Executive. I had this role for Peter Marshall’s tenure of the hot seat.
I became Ten One editor, initially multi-tasking with my other role, and in September 2013 I produced the first of 41 issues of the magazine.
We went online in June 2017, which was a huge change. As a newspaper hack I had mixed feelings, but the benefits were huge – more flexible response, more stories, published to every Police screen and iPhone, to name a few.
What hasn’t changed is the pleasure of reporting the often extraordinary mahi of Police staff.
Ten One stories cover everything from big-picture strategy to grassroots policing. They get more than a million views a year internally and, alongside the media and social media teams, we give a pretty good account of Police and Police people, for our staff and the public.
Home is Wellington, though the boys are grown and live closer to the family roots in Auckland. Outside work Patricia and I walk Paddy the spoodle and The Snoot, an ex-racing greyhound, often in Karori Cemetery.
Time allowing, I write Underground History, a blog about the cemetery’s occupants who include Prime Ministers, executed criminals and everyone in between. Police Commissioners too – I took Peter Marshall there once to visit one.
Little-known fact: I trained to a fairly high level in the martial art Shorinji Kempo. It could have been higher - my training partners all got black belts a few weeks after I left England. But bringing the whānau to Aotearoa was an adventure I wouldn’t swap for a belt of any colour.
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