Source: Radio New Zealand
The Northern Territory pay about $130,000 a year for an experienced officer. 123RF
A Northern Territory police officer recruiting in New Zealand says the officers he’s spoken to love their jobs but are looking for a different challenge in life.
The Northern Territory Police Force’s recruitment push is underway in Auckland this week, and will also be carrying out interviews in Rotorua, Napier, Wellington and Christchurch over the next few weeks.
Acting superintendent Serge Bouma said they’ve interviewed about 17 candidates in Auckland since Monday – half of which are current serving officers.
He said the officers come from various experience levels, ranging between three to ten years of experience.
Bouma said since 2023, they’ve recruited 87 experienced officers for the Northern Territory, and 60 of them have come from New Zealand.
He said on average, the Northern Territory recruits about 30 officers from New Zealand each year – over two tranches of recruitment drives per year.
Acting superintendent Serge Bouma. Supplied
Bouma said most of the Kiwi officers he’s interviewed are passionate about their jobs.
“We’re really really noticing first off, that there’s not a single police officer we’ve interviewed here or in the past, NZ police officers, who hasn’t said that they love their job, love their organisation, they’re all very very happy in their job, in their organisation.
“A lot of them are looking for a different challenge in their life, they’re looking for new opportunities, a new adventure in a different place, some other rewarding career development opportunities that potentially a smaller policing organisation like ours can provide,” he said.
Bouma said while they offer more attractive pay – about $130,000 a year for an experienced officer, not inclusive of accommodation allowance – he’s interested in candidates who are not just in it for the money.
“I don’t want people where money is their sole motivator, policing is a very tough job, we need people that are passionate about policing and we need people to understand what policing in the Northern Territory is like,” he said.
Bouma said officers need to be prepared to work in isolated areas, where they could be one of two officers in a remote community.
He said they needed to be ready to work in high temperatures, and to respond to natural disasters.
The Northern Territory expected to have numerous cyclones every wet season, and officers at smaller stations would be involved in coordinating evacuations and doing water rescues, Bouma said.
He said they would also need to have an awareness of the cultural considerations in the Northern Territory, where about 30 percent of the population are first nation Australians – the indigenous people of Australia.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
