They don’t know who they are, but lining up yesterday among the 59 graduating constables of Wing 332 was the one who brought the Prime Minister out to the Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC).
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters were there to acknowledge the graduation of the 1800th Police recruit since the current recruitment surge began in October 2017.
The pair took their place on the dias alongside Commissioner Mike Bush, Police Minister Stuart Nash and representatives of the Police Executive and RNZPC.
They took part in the parade inspection, presentation to the new constables of their identity cards and the presentation of awards to the three top prizewinners of Wing 332. And there were lots of selfies to be taken.
Prime Minister Ardern congratulated the new constables on their achievement and spoke of her own experience as the daughter of a police officer – Ross Ardern, who retired at the rank of Detective Superintendent in 2013.
She said 40 years ago W1513 Constable Ardern had stood on parade as a new graduate. “It was a completely different era for Police. But the motivation feels to me to be exactly the same – to make a difference.”
She said while reading the background notes on the graduates, she was in awe of their diversity, qualifications and life stories. Wing 332 includes Police’s first female Afghan-born officer, and a colleague who fulfilled a dream expressed when, as a six-year-old, she drew a picture of herself in police uniform and put it in a time capsule.
The Prime Minister shared two observations from her time in a Police family.
“One – it’s a hard grind,” she said. “It’s easy perhaps to lose faith in human nature. I can tell you police work with many different people - but they can change lives.
“Two - your family will be proud of you.”
The Deputy Prime Minister said the extra police going into regions, towns and cities nationwide will build safer communities.
“You take into those communities your diversity – whether that’s diversity of thought, of background, of experiences, of ethnicity, or of language – and you will use that to further enrich this great Police service,” he said.
“You will enjoy many good times and the close camaraderie of your colleagues, but there will be difficult times too and hard lessons to learn.
“But if you police your community with integrity and compassion you will earn the respect of your community and enjoy their support.”
The graduation of Wing 332 takes the number of new constables since October 2017 to 1825. The recruitment effort continues toward an overall 1800 lift in constabulary strength, including attrition.
The graduates are being deployed to each of Police’s 12 districts.