New Zealand Police Story

When going to Henderson Primary School a boy named Peter said to me, “My Dad’s a Policeman and one day he’s going to get you!” In my mind I imagined Peter’s 2 storey house with policemen and guns sticking out of every window.

I think at that stage if I was a real Dragon I would have Policeman Pie for Dinner!

The next day, a Policeman turned up in Henderson Primary School and sat down and told his story. He said that the Police weren’t there to hit boys and girls with their batons and that the Police were there to help people. They were there to protect people and that if you were ever lost or in trouble you could ask a Police man for help.

He was a very nice sensible man who was like a fatherly type. I was not in trouble so I did not go to the Police and after that. Even a Dragon wouldn’t eat him.

So here I am up above with 2 other people to learn about Community Patrols for the Police. We are not the Police but there to help them. The most we could do that day is to report Grafiti or rubbish on the street. We never go by ourselves. I am learning how a Policeman or a Policewoman stays a good person when they have to deal with bad people. One of them said they had training for it. I still don’t know how they do it.

So the above Patrollers, on the left is myself, the centre is Peter and on the right an MP Denise Lee.

In some parts of New Zealand, like here in Onehunga there are 3 policemen for 500 people. I don’t know how any one does such a hard job. Wouldn’t be easy. Here is a picture of Grey St, Onehunga, Auckland. All we do is to report Grafiti or rubbish lying around or else damage to property. The Police can’t be everywhere at once all the time.

I recently visited a friend who has received domestic abuse. Sad case of her being hurt by an abusive partner. When I saw her last a Police woman was sitting next to her and also a person who was a Social Worker. They were very nice caring women. In my view, both women were heroines to help my friend in distressing circumstances.

I can’t give advice for people in trouble with domestic abuse except to be non judgemental and to be there when they need it. What ever they do.

At a place where I used to work I met a woman who befriended me whose husband was a policeman. She invited me to their place for dinner and they took me to the police station to show me around. Her family were all in the police force, so her father, and his family were all policemen. They were very nice people.

Here is my summer picture a watercolour for the season.  I don’t think this woman is being abused.

Now on Television I recall a recent programme where a Policewoman told her story. When she was a little child, her family was a war zone and she lived in fear of her father who hit her mother and her self or the other children. She was frightened. A Police woman came and rescued her. She was really frightened of the Police but the woman was very kind to her and became a heroine in her eyes.

She made that decision then and there that she was going to be a Policewoman just like that kind woman who helped her when she grew up.

Now our police don’t carry guns, and are not aggressive people. They do this as a public service just the same as a Nurse, or a Doctor or a Teacher. Their role is to help people not to frighten them. I can only speak for the New Zealand Police, not other countries although they are like English Policemen but not exactly the same. They deal with very frightening people and I think that they are brave.