NZ, Australia and UK join forces to run South Pacific leadership programme for the first time

The British High Commissioner will open a groundbreaking conference of Pacific police officers on Monday morning from across the Pacific.

Porirua Police College will play host to the conference of 21 Senior Police Officers from 15 South Pacific countries. The officers are in New Zealand to attend a two week long course designed for future leaders in the police force. They are travelling from as far afield as Federated States of Micronesia in the northwest Pacific to the Cook Islands in the south Pacific.

A jointly funded project between NZ Police, Australian Federal Police and the UK Foreign Office, the course is designed to develop management skills and provide the tools senior officers need in leadership roles. In the UK a similar course is attended by all Police Commissioners and Deputy Police Commissioners.

The course is being run by two UK Superintendents from the British Police College in Bramshill, Hampshire. Bramshill specialises in delivering effective learning and training assistance in operational policing and police leadership throughout the world.

Mr Bede Fahey who heads the Leadership Management and Command School at The Royal New Zealand Police College says "It’s great to have a course of this calibre occurring at the RNZPC and it provides a valuable opportunity for me and my staff to benchmark our approach against some international best practise"

The course is being opened by British High Commissioner, Vicki Treadell, who says ‘this project is a really great example of the UK, NZ and Australia working together in the Pacific. A sound police force is an essential requirement for any democratic society.”

The course will include a discussion forum where the various pacific police service participants will discuss policing development with representatives of the Australian policing programmes, New Zealand international policing programmes and the United Kingdom's.

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