'See something, do something' - that's a creed for our police. If they come across a situation that requires action, they take action.
But on July 27 last year, it was Clive resident Robin Oliver who saw something and did something about it.
What he saw, as most residents of Hawke's Bay
are aware, was an outrage. The vicious bashing of Clive community police officer, Senior Constable Alan Daly, by a man and a woman.
On that day, a member of the public took the kind of decisive action we expect from our police. In doing so, Mr Oliver in all likelihood saved one of the Bay's most respected police officers from worse injury than had already been inflicted upon him.
Mr Daly required major surgery for the fractured eye-socket and broken nose he received in that attack.
Yesterday, a grateful community awarded Mr Oliver a Royal Humane Society of New Zealand Certificate of Merit for putting his own safety second when he intervened to assist Mr Daly.
And Mr Daly is truly thankful: "I'm very thankful for Robin intervening, it will be long lasting in my memory," he says.
"The aftermath has been an ongoing thing ... but after 12 months I am pleased to say I am back at work and carrying on with being a policeman."
For his part, Mr Oliver told Hawke's Bay Today that the incident was "just something that happened in our street and I was able to be there before it got more serious".
New Zealanders are good at downplaying their own heroics but the rest of us recognise the bravery involved in Mr Oliver's action and we thank him for it.
Mr Daly beat the official award ceremony for Mr Oliver with a heartfelt accolade of his own - a bottle of bourbon.
We hope they get the chance to have a drink together some time soon.
