New Zealand Police welcomed 60 new officers today as wing 375 celebrated their success in front of whānau and friends.

In attendance was Commissioner of Police Andrew Coster with members of the Police executive, The Hon Casey Costello Associate Minister for Police, alongside wing patron Dr Diana Sarfati.

“I have enjoyed my time as patron for Wing 375 and wish the new constables all the very best in their journey,” says Diana.

A large percentage of the wing are keen sports people, especially in the field of rugby and they will be hitting the ground running in their new districts in July.

Constable Kate Naylor is a rugby representative for Otago. The southern born forward has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and will start her policing career in Dunedin. 

Another rugby forward heading to the front line is Constable Avalon Strang who represented North Harbour in the Farrah Palmer Cup last year. She was a Teacher’s Aide before choosing policing and will be headed to Tāmaki Makaurau.

Firearms award winner Constable Angus McDonald played hooker for the Bay of Plenty Steamers, and he’s headed to Eastern District for start duty.

Constable Bailey Taylor was previously in the New Zealand Army and helped run the Limited-Service Volunteers as an instructor in the Youth Development Unit at Burnham Camp. He’s also a keen rugby player representing Manawatu and the New Zealand Defence Blacks. He’s posted to Canterbury.

Bay of Plenty-bound Constable Deb Fuller is known for being a competitive cyclist, runner, and 70.3 Ironman competitor, but she too has played rugby 7s and 15s.

Although the winner of the Minister’s Award for Top of Wing has no rugby experience, she has a resume fit for policing with a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice. Constable Alexandra Wilson is also a former Deputy Court Registrar and Residential Care worker for an Oranga Tamariki Youth Justice Residence and in her spare time, plays lead tenor drums in her local pipe band.  Constable Wilson is deployed to Canterbury.

Patron: Dr Diana Sarfati

Dr Diana Sarfati is a respected and skilled leader in health with a public sector, clinical and academic background.  She is the Director-General of Health and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Health, a role she was appointed to in November 2022 after acting in it since July 2022. Diana is a public health physician, cancer epidemiologist and health services researcher. She has a PhD, Master of Public Health and Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Otago.

Some of her previous roles have included Tumuaki, Chief Executive and National Director of Te Aho o Te Kahu – Cancer Control Agency; and National Director of Cancer Control at the Ministry of Health, where she oversaw the implementation of the agency. From 2015 to 2019, Diana was the co-head and then head of the Department of Public Health and the Director of the Cancer and Chronic Conditions (C3) research group at University of Otago, Wellington.

She is a former member of the National Cancer Programme Leadership Board, the National Screening Advisory Group, the National Ethics Advisory Committee, the Bowel Cancer Taskforce, and the National Bowel Cancer Screening Advisory Committee. 

She holds several international roles including Lancet Commissioner for the Health Systems and Cancer Lancet Commission; member of the International Advisory Committee to Lancet Oncology; the Advisory Committee to the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s Pacific cancer hub; IARC’s international expert group on social inequalities in cancer; and the Board of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. She has also led a Lancet Oncology series on cancer in small island developing states.

Awards:
Minister’s Award recognising top student: Constable Alexandra Wilson posted to Canterbury District.
Patron’s Award for second in wing, recognising second top student: Constable Jacob Pepper, posted to Canterbury District.
Commissioner’s Award for Leadership: Constable Rameka Thomas-Dorante posted to Bay of Plenty district.
Driver Training and Road Policing Practice Award: Constable Zania Jarvie posted to Waikato District.
Firearms Award: Constable Angus McDonald posted to Eastern District.
Physical Training and Defensive Tactics Award: Blayde Fiu posted to Counties Manukau District.

Deployment:

The new constables will start their first day of duty in their Police districts on Monday, 8 July 2024 and will continue their training on the job as probationary constables.

Northland 1, Tāmaki Makaurau a total of 16 and broken down as follows: Waitematā - 4, Counties Manukau - 12, Waikato - 5, Bay of Plenty - 8, Eastern - 2, Central - 3, Wellington - 12, Tasman - 1, Canterbury - 9, Southern - 3.

Demographics:

23.3 per cent are female, and 76.7 per cent are male. New Zealand European make up 56 per cent of the wing, with Māori 11.7 per cent, Pasifika 11.7 per cent, Asian 13.3 per cent and LAAM – 1.7 and Other – 5.0 per cent.

Local media will be supplied with stories of some new staff heading to their district. The Police Media Centre will be in touch with photographs and notes next week.

Also look out for a Ten One Magazine story that will be published on the Police website with more stories and photos about our recruits tackling work in their first week.