Ngā mihi o Matariki, te tau hou Māori. In the Matariki spirit of celebration and reflection, we asked two members of staff, Inspector Matenga (Marty) Gray and Senior Constable Toni Wall, to share their career experience in Police and Māori engagement. Their words are translated into te reo Māori.
Inspector Matenga Gray – Area Commander Otago Coastal
Ko Rangiuru me kapuarangi nga maunga
Ko Kaituna me wainui nga awa
Ko makahae me torerenuiarua nga wharenui
Ko makahae me torero nga marae
Ko Te Arawa me Tainui nga waka
Ko Ngatī Tuheke te hapū
Ko Tapuika me ngai tai nga iwi
Ko Matenga Gray toku ingoa
I am currently the Area Commander for Otago Coastal and my previous roles were the district prevention manager and Māori Responsiveness Manager (MRM) here in Dunedin.
I have been immersed in kaupapa Māori throughout my career, having held MPES advisor roles before those positions.
While I now hold an area commander role I still remain deeply immersed in kaupapa Māori. In fact, my move from the MRM role to the DPM role and area commander roles were deliberate as I wanted to upskill myself in other parts of the business to learn how to embed Te Huringa o Te Tai/The Turning of the Tide into everyday policing as opposed to a separate stand-alone strategy. It also gave me the ability to direct more activity through line control mandate.
We now see more MRMs moving into other senior positions which I think is an acknowledgement of the skillset they have and a reflection of the mana of the roles and the transformational influence they have.
These are all great things for Māori leadership in New Zealand Police.
As kaitiaki of kaupapa Māori we all have a responsibility to lead and influence on behalf of all those that have come before us and this has been a significant motivator for myself and all others in this kaupapa.
We still face daily challenges but have come a long way and I’m encouraged that Māori leaders are more visible and now have confidence to express themselves as Māori.
Mauri ora.
Inspector Matenga Gray – te Toihau ā-Rohe mō te Takutai o Ōtākou
I tēnei wā ko au te Toihau ā-Rohe mō te Takutai o Ōtākou, ā, ko aku mahi i mua ko te Kaiwhakahaere Ārai ā-Rohe me te Kaiwhakahaere Urupare Māori (MRM) ki konei ki Ōtepoti.
Kua rumakina ahau ki roto i te kaupapa Māori i roto i aku mahi, arā ko au te kaitohutohu MPES i mua i aua mahi.
Ahakoa ko au te Toihau ā-Rohe ināianei, kei te rumakina tonu ki te kaupapa Māori, ā, he mea i āta kōwhiria e au te neke mai i te tūranga MRM ki te tūranga DPM me te Toihau ā-Rohe i te mea i te hiahia au ki te whakapakari i ahau anō i roto i ētahi atu wāhanga o tēnei mahi ki te ako ki te whakatāmau i te Te Huringa o Te Tai/the Turning of the Tide ki roto i ngā mahi Pirihimana o ia rā, hāunga tētahi rautaki motuhake. Nā aua mahi i āhei ahau ki te tohu i ētahi atu mahi mā te mana whakahaere i ngā kaimahi kei raro i a au.
Ināianei ka kitea he nui ake ngā MRM e neke ana ki ētahi atu tūranga matua, ā, ki a au he whakamihi i ō rātou pūkenga me te whai whakaaro anō ki te mana o ngā tūranga me tōna awenga whakaumu. He mea hira katoa ēnei mō ngā kaiārahi Māori i roto i Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa.
I te mea he kaitiaki kaupapa Māori mātou, he haepapa tō mātou ki te ārahi, ki te whakaaweawe hoki mō rātou i mua i a mātou, ā, he mea whakahihiko i ahau me ētahi atu i roto i tēnei kaupapa. Ka werowerohia tonu mātou i ia rā engari kua pakari haere mātou, ā, he mea whakatītina te kite atu i ngā kaiārahi Māori e whakapuaki ana i tō rātou Māoritanga.
Mauri Ora.
Senior Constable Toni Wall - Iwi Liaison/Kaitakawaenga, and Pacific Liaison portfolio
My hapū is Te Whānau a Ruataupare and Ngati Porou is my iwi.
I have been in the role of Iwi Liaison/Kaitakawaenga (ILO) for 16 years here in Dunedin. Our MPES roopu in Southern District has grown substantially– we’ve gone from three members to nine in the last 14 months.
When I graduated from Police College in 1991, I was stationed in Porirua doing a variety of frontline roles and in 1995 became a qualified Youth Aid Officer and LREP constable. I was a Youth Aid officer based at Waitangirua. I transferred to Paraparaumu in 1996 on section and then became the Youth Aid Officer for Kapiti.
In 2000, I transferred to Balclutha and spent three years policing front line in a rural area and finally moved to Dunedin in 2003 as a Youth Aid officer. It was in 2005 that I moved into the Kaitakawaenga role as I wanted to make a difference in the community I grew up in, and specifically for Māori.
I love my role; I get to be in my community and tautoko (support) as much as I can. I provide information, advocacy, awhi, manaaki and maybe the odd growling.
We have meetings/hui booked in with our stakeholders daily, and I provide advice and support to all staff, Youth, CIB, PST etc. We assist and liaise with the whānau.
We also tautoko our staff to make sure that tikanga is adhered to when dealing with whānau - and especially sudden death - making sure the iwi is kept informed. Tikanga and kawa are rules and customs and we make sure that our staff are aware of them and abide by them.
We have Police kaumatua who we rely on heavily to provide guidance and tautoko to us and our staff. We are also guided by local iwi and runanga in regards to their kawa (protocol and etiquette) when it comes to many things like koiwi (human remains), nga mate (sudden death), tapu (sacredness), noa (balance) and rahui (preservation/embargo)
We provide a lot of opportunities for learning cultural competencies, marae-based training with Police staff and working closely with Wātene Māori (Māori Wardens).
We also have many Māori organisations that provide many different kaupapa services based around tikanga and kawa to our whānau and community. We work alongside them as well as Whānau Ora navigators and Kaimahi with many of our whānau.
We liaise with Otago University and Polytech, many schools and our local kura kaupapa and kohanga reo in Dunedin. When I am not at work, I am coaching or managing sport around the country or following my three adult tamariki round watching their sport.
My current favourite sport is touch, where I’m the current manager of the New Zealand Touch Black Men’s team, New Zealand Police Men’s team and Otago Open Mixed team. I still play in a competitive mixed team.
Pirihimana Whaea Toni Wall - Kaitakawaenga me te kaiwhakahaere o te kōpaki Kaitakawaenga mō Te Moananui-a-Kiwa
Ko Te Whānau a Ruataupare te hapū, ko Ngati Porou te iwi.
Ko au te Kaitakawaenga (ILO) mō ngā tau 16 ki konei ki Ōtepoti. Kua tipu whānui te rōpū MPES i roto i te Rohe o te Tonga – i roto i te 14 marama kua pahure kua whānui ake te rōpū mai i te tokotoru ki te tokoiwa.
I taku pōtaetanga i te kāreti pirihimana i te tau 1991, i Porirua ahau e mahi ana i ētahi mahi tūmatanui, ā, i te tau 1995 i whiwhi ahau i taku tohu mō te Āpiha Āwhina Taiohi me te pirihimana LREP. He Āpiha Āwhina Taiohi ahau i Waitangirua. I whakawhiti au ki Paraparaumu i te tau 1996 i ahau e pia ana kātahi ka tū au hei Āpiha Āwhina Taiohi i Kapiti.
I te tau 2000 i whakawhiti au ki Iwikatea, ā, e toru tau au i reira e mahi pirihimana tūmatanui ana i tētahi rohe taiwhenua kātahi ka neke ki Ōtepoti i te tau 2003 hei Āpiha Āwhina Taiohi. I te tau 2005 i neke au ki te tūranga Kaitakawaenga i te mea i hiahia au ki te whakarerekē i te hapori i tipu ai au, inarā mō te Māori.
Kei te arohanui au ki taku mahi; ka āhei ahau ki te noho ki waenga i taku hapori me te kaha tautoko i a rātou. Ka tuku ahau i ngā mōhiohio, ā, he kōkiri, he āwhina, he manaaki taku mahi, me te kohete i ētahi wā. Ka whakarite hui me te hunga whaipānga i ia rā, ka tohutohu, ka tautoko hoki i ngā kaimahi katoa, Taiohi, CIB, PST me ētahi atu. Ka āwhina, ka whakawhiti kōrero mē ngā whanau.
Ka tautoko hoki i ā mātou kaimahi ki te ū ki ngā tikanga Māori, inarā ko te mate ohorere – me tuku atu ngā mōhiohio ki te iwi – me mōhio rawa, me whai hoki ā mātou kaimahi i ngā tikanga me ngā kawa. Ka whakawhirinaki mātou ki ngā kaumātua mō ngā Pirihimana ki te akiaki, ki te tautoko hoki i a mātou me ā mātou kaimahi. Ka ārahi te Iwi me te Rūnanga o konei i a mātou mō ō rātou kawa mō ngā mea pērā i te kōiwi, te mate ohorere, te tapu, te noa me te rāhui.
Ka whakarato mātou i ngā āheinga maha mō te ako i te mātauranga ahurea, ngā whakangungu ki runga marae mō ngā kaimahi pirihimana, te mahi tahi me ngā Wātene Māori hoki. He maha hoki ngā rōpū Māori e whakarato ana i ngā ratonga kaupapa maha ki tō mātou whānau, hapori hoki, ko te pūtake ko te tikanga me te kawa, ka mahi tahi hoki ki ngā kaiārahi me ngā kaimahi Whānau Ora, ki ngā whānau maha hoki.
Ka whakawhiti kōrero mātou me te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou, Te Kura Matatini ki Ōtākou hoki, ngā kura maha, te Kura Kaupapa o konei me ngā Kōhanga Reo ki Ōtepoti. I ngā wā kāore au i te mahi, kei te whakaako, whakahaere hākinakina rānei puta noa i te motu, kei te whaiwhai rānei i aku tamariki pakeke e toru ki te mātakitaki i ō rātou hākinakina. Ko taku tino hākinakina ko te pā whutupōro, arā ko au te kaiwhakahaere o te Tīma Pā Whutupōro Tāne o Aotearoa, te tīma Tāne o ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa, te tīma Matua Tāne/Wāhine o Ōtākou hoki, ā, kei te takaro tonu au ki roto i tētahi tīma whakataetae tāne/wāhine.