Grant Diver with his detector dog, Peyton, at the Dog Training Centre in Trentham earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
Grant Diver with his detector dog, Peyton, at the Dog Training Centre in Trentham earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
Hawke's Bay senior constable and dog handler Grant Diver has done what he always set out to do - leaving the force on his own terms, satisfied.
After nearly 39 years with police, Diver, one of three officers shot during what became known as the Napier Siege, officially finishes with police on Thursday.
In 2009, a search warrant on Napier Hill changed the course of his life.
He and his then police dog Fi, along with Constables Len Snee and Bruce Miller arrived at an address to serve a cannabis search warrant.
The offender, Jan Molenaar grabbed a gun and ordered them out.
"Returning to work as a police officer was very hard on my family, especially my wife, Robyn," Diver told Ten One Magazine.
"Robyn wanted me to leave police after the Napier Siege.
"I wanted to leave police on my own terms. I didn't want to be forced out by something someone did to me. I was determined to get back to work."
And that's exactly what he did, continuing in his role as a detector dog handler.
From Search and Rescue to the Armed Offenders Squad, Diver's 36 years in the dog section stands out.
Hawke's Bay raised, he graduated Police College in Wing 85 in January 1983 and was posted to Napier.
He spent the first two years of his police career undertaking sectional work, team policing, and as a member of the Search and Rescue Squad, but once he saw the police dogs in action he was sold.
"I joined police to help people and once I started working as an officer and saw what the dog section was like, I knew that was where I wanted to be."
He joined the dog section in December 1985, beginning a journey with 11 different operational dogs.
Grant Diver with Rada, who was shot and killed on duty in Hastings in 1989 leading to a legislation change. Photo / Supplied
His second operational dog, Rada, was shot and killed on duty in Hastings in 1989.
The offender then turned the gun on Diver who managed to dive behind a vehicle to avoid being shot.
It was this tragedy that led to government changing the legislation to make it an offence to injure, maim or kill an operational police dog.
Diver told Ten One Magazine the best dog he ever had was Nero who worked with him throughout the 90s.
"He was an armed offender's dog and a dual-purpose drug dog. He just loved to work and had great health so was able to work through to 11 years of age, which is a lot longer than most serving operational Police dogs."
It was Nero who was with Diver during the 65-day manhunt for Terrence Thompson, who shot and killed police Constable Glenn McKibbin in Flaxmere in 1996.
"It was a hard time for everybody involved in that manhunt as Glenn was one of us.
"Glenn's father Des was my first boss; Glenn had come out to the dog section as a schoolboy as he wanted to be a dog handler like his dad. The afternoon before he died, we had worked together on a shift."
Diver served two terms on the Hawke's Bay Armed Offender's Squad as an AOS dog handler with Nero from 1991-2000, and then as a squad member from 2003-2009.
In 2001, he moved from general purpose police dogs to Eastern Police District's first drug and firearm detector dog handler.
Funeral for Napier Policeman Len Snee held at Napier Municipal Theatre. Released from Hospital for the funeral, injured Grant Diver waits to say farewell. Photo / Warren Buckland
"Policing has been a wonderful career. I've had good and bad experiences, but I've thoroughly enjoyed my time," Diver said.
National coordinator police dogs, Inspector Todd Southall said Diver had contributed and sacrificed a lot for police.
"We are incredibly grateful for Grant's contribution to police. He is a humble and lovely bloke who has the respect of everyone in the dog section," Southall said.
