Hello, hello, hello - Police host foreign forces

October 29, 2005

A senior member of the Police force best known for tracking down the Lockerbie bombers - as well as the long-running television drama Taggart - is visiting New Zealand next week.

North Shore Police is hosting Superintendent Lynne Hutchinson of Scotland's Strathclyde Force as well as Superintendent Ferdi Pit of the South Australian Police on Tuesday afternoon (November 1).

Area Commander, Takapuna-based Inspector Mike Hill, has invited former detective and current North Shore City Mayor, George Wood, along to help the Police with their inquiries into how constabularies and councils can work better together.

"We all share the goal of promoting community safety so sharing experiences of our three different countries will help us to identify best practices," Inspector Hill says.

"Strathclyde started the initiative 'Spotlight', a crime education programme that focused on reducing different types of crime. The first stage targeted violence and in particular knife carrying by young offenders. It was highly successful and ended up being adopted by several British forces," he says.

North Shore City's mayor says he's looking forward to meeting the foreign forces and discussing some of the projects involving his council and the local Police.

"We're pooling our resources to address issues in central Northcote for example, and it's proving a real community effort," says Mr Wood who served in the NZ Police force for 32 years before being elected mayor in 1998.

"I retain a very strong interest in police matters, and have been very impressed by my former colleagues' commitment to learn from the world's leading crime-fighters. The North Shore community is proud of the excellent results that our local Police are achieving. It's great to see them taking advantage of overseas innovation."

In 2004, North Shore City Council and North Shore Police signed a Memorandum of Understanding - a formal commitment to work with each other.

George Wood says policing in North Shore City will get a major boost in 2006 with the opening of a new state-of-the-art policing centre next to the new Constellation Busway station. The Strathclyde force - www.strathclyde.police.uk - is about the same size as the entire NZ Police.

ENDS

© Scoop Media