Hoping to join NZ Police.

[Dogberry]

Apparently they are so desparate they want to recruit a 23 year veteran (or knackered old bloke) like myself.

They have recruited about 200 in recent years, I missed the last recruitment drive.

I have a job offer (Auckland, Wellington, Wairao or Whanganui) and am now going through the immigration process.

I am amazed I am being given this oportunity, I tried 15 years ago and was told very politrly to go away.

BTWAccording to a collegue who now works in Auckland the crime rate is relatively low in NZ but the driving is awful so I wasnt surprised to see a driving thread when I got here.

[KiwiHopeful]

Well, I'm not so sure about the low crime rate.

Rates for murder are low here, but rape, assault, and property crime rates are all pretty high.

[Dogberry]

Must be why they want to recruit us then!

Interesting figures, if I join I have to learn to use firearms.

[MotherBear]

Hi Dogberry and to MoveToNZ.

NZ is pretty desperate to stock up on police recruits as they are very short staffed. The police force can't seem to hold onto people for long which is part of the problem. There have been some articles in the press about it from time to time. It's possible that part of the problem is that NZ police sometimes find it hard to take on board new ideas from their migrant counterparts who may be used to doing things a different way.

[missvee]

Hi Dogberry,

I will just say it is totally different from UK way of policing. There is a gang culture which is very strong and the cities such as Auckland, particularly South Auckland has a bad reputation. I naively thought New Zealand was relatively crime free but just like all big cities it has its crime and violence. I don't know where you will find any statistics on crime stats but I am sure they are available.

I have lived here for almost a year and live in a small town in the Bay of Plenty and feel relatively safe here but we still have problems even here, P is rife. I still wouldn't go back to the UK as the good stuff outweighs the bad.
Vee

[Dogberry]

I have seen the gangs on Ross kemp's programme, and we had quite alot of input from some Kiwi cops and an ex UK cop who is in Auckland.

I guess people are people the world over!

I cant see it being worse than the UK though, not for a long while.

Thanks for the welcome everyone

[rasin]

Hi,

When we were staying at the city hotel in Wellington, we could hear the police siren sounding on and off in the middle of the night..
Also my hubby got warning by a traffic police cos he merely slow down at stop line instead of stopping completely (it was daytime at suburb with almost no traffic except the police car..)
This makes me think that police in NZ are very busy handling cases from big to trival.