Constable Ellen Bernstein is no stranger to helping her community.
She has been a foster parent for Oranga Tamariki and was an ordained priest when she decided to apply to join Police. Now she is on the front line in Northland, still putting into practice her belief in respect and the dignity of every person.
Ellen, who graduated from the Royal New Zealand Police College in December, spent a few years building websites before fostering full-time for Oranga Tamariki for a year.
She went on a late OE and returned to New Zealand to study theology. While working in the office of the Bishop of Waikato she met Anglican bishop Sir David Moxon, who encouraged her to consider a calling to the priesthood.
Ellen was ordained in 2012 after completing her degree and worked for six years at St Stephen’s in Tamahere, just south of Hamilton. Her priestly duties included weddings and funerals, maintaining the buildings and providing guidance to her church community.
She completed a post-graduate diploma in counselling and guidance, which helped her to better communicate with those in her community struggling with big questions – the meaning of life, where God is when bad things happen, and how to cope with major life events.
In 2018, she and her husband moved to the Far North. She wanted to find a way to be useful in her new home.
“I almost said yes to a good honest desk job based in Kaitaia, but I realised I might become a bit restless stuck inside after ten years in the Anglican world,” she says.
“So I decided to give the Police application process a go. Rather to my surprise, the doors kept opening so I kept walking through them.”
In a profile she penned before her graduation from the Royal New Zealand Police College – with Wing 333 in December – Ellen revealed how Police’s recruiting slogan had struck a chord with her.
“All the recruiting posters ask ‘do you care enough?’ not ‘are you staunch enough?’ or tough enough or heroic or brave. If they did, I never would have applied.”
Ellen is now working in Northland District. She plans to focus on frontline policing for the foreseeable future.
She says she hasn’t entirely swapped her white garb for blue – rather, she’s simply added blue to her closet.
“I am still an active priest outside of my policing area, but I do try to keep a level of separation between the two roles,” she says.
“One thing that crosses over between the two is my own approach to people: I believe in the fundamental human dignity of every person and I hope I can maintain that respectful way of relating to people.”
- If you're interested in joining the Police flock, check out https://www.newcops.govt.nz/