Source: New Zealand Police
Media are invited to the 398 Chris Cahill recruit wing graduation.
What: Graduation of the New Zealand Police 398 Recruit Wing.
Who: For families and friends to celebrate with the newly attested police officers.
Why: Completion and graduation from their initial training course.
Where: Royal New Zealand Police College – Porirua.
When: Thursday 30 July at 2pm – media will need to be in place by 1.45pm.
How: RSVP the Police Media Centre if you’re attending: media@police.govt.nz
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers will attend the ceremony tomorrow with Wing Patron, Chris Cahill to watch as sixty-one new police officers from the latest wing graduate.
Also being acknowledged at this graduation are the four new constables of the Accelerated Policing Course.
The 398 Wing Patron:
Retired Detective Inspector Chris Cahill gave 40 years of service to New Zealand Police and led the New Zealand Police Association for nine of those years.
Chris joined Police in 1986 as a member of Wing 102 and was first posted to his hometown, Invercargill, later moving to Te Kuiti where he joined the CIB, then to Napier. There he established himself as a highly capable investigator and developed a strong reputation for organised crime investigations. He was subsequently promoted to Sergeant and then Detective Sergeant.
In 2007 he transferred to Auckland and was promoted to Detective Senior Sergeant, taking up the role of Officer in Charge of Investigations – Drugs and Organised Crime – for Auckland Metro. In this position he led some of New Zealand’s largest national and international drug investigations. He received a commendation for Operation Hoffman, in which he led a covert investigative team in Tonga during a major phase of a worldwide investigation.
In 2011 he became the first New Zealand Police officer seconded to the Australian Federal Police as part of joint organised crime and counter terrorism cooperation initiatives. Returning to Auckland Central and promoted to Detective Inspector, Chris was responsible for re-establishing the 24/7 Crime Squads.
In 2016 he was elected President of the New Zealand Police Association. In this role he was a prominent public figure, representing and advocating for members. Following the Christchurch mosque attacks, Chris was a key advocate for reforms to New Zealand’s firearms laws.
Chris was also an executive member of the International Council of Police Representative Associations and of the Police Federation of Australia.
During his tenure as President, he led significant organisational changes. He also created a board position dedicated to police employee representation and championed the appointment of women to governance roles.
More details about statistics, prize winners and other recruits will be shared after graduation on Thursday in a follow up Ten One story.
ENDS
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/07/29/media-advisory-more-feet-on-the-beat/