Former police trainees among new Constables

  • George Hawkins
Police

Thirty-five graduates from a pilot police trainee programme aimed at helping young people be selected as police recruits are among 75 new Constables graduating today from Porirua’s Police College.

Police Minister George Hawkins said of the 75 new Constables graduating today from Wing 214, 35 were young people who had earlier this year completed a pilot police trainee programme.

Ninety-two students aged between 17 and 22 from throughout New Zealand funded themselves on the 18-week course conducted at Manukau Institute of Technology’s School of Foundation Studies. The course ended in June and aimed to prepare students for specific areas of police training.

From the course, 53 graduates have now been selected as police recruits with some yet to undergo training in subsequent Wings. With the exception of not being required to hold a full drivers licence, all had to meet the same selection standards as others applying for the Police College recruit course.

Graduates previously part of the pilot programme will fill probationary Constable vacancies in the Auckland Districts, with five bound for Auckland City, 17 for North Shore/Waitakere and 13 for Counties Manukau. Twelve are aged 18 years, 14 are 19 years old, six are 20, and three are 21.

The average age of sworn police recruited in 2002/03 was 30.9 years and the average age of Constables at the end of October 2003 was 36.4 years. Today’s graduates included 58 men and 17 women aged between 18 and 43 years. While at the College they assisted in Operation Reef, the search for Coral Burrows in Featherston.

Overall, 44 of the new constables are destined for Auckland districts, 13 for the Wellington region, five for Northland, six for the central North Island and seven for the South Island. Of these, ER Wiri will receive 13 Constables, Henderson nine, Takapuna seven, Wellington six, Auckland City five, Whangarei and Lower Hutt four, TAG North Shore/Waitakere and Christchurch three, and downtown Auckland and Upper Hutt two. Avondale, Papakura, Otara, Huntly, Taumaranui, Napier, Dunedin, Timaru, Porirua, Gore, New Plymouth, Otahuhu, Kaikohe, Te Kuiti, Hamilton, Invercargill will receive one new Constable each.