After 15 years Mahia Constable Craig Henneker has said it is the right time to step down. Photo / NZPolice
After 15 years Mahia Constable Craig Henneker has said it is the right time to step down. Photo / NZPolice
After 15 years of policing service to the coastal community of Mahia, Senior Constable Craig Henneker is stepping down and letting some "fresh blood" take over.
The local lad reckons it is the right time to move on and let someone else take up the role, but says he is proud of the work he has been able to achieve during his time.
"One thing that I can say is that I can leave it better than how I found it," Henneker said.
"But over time I felt we have been able to stop and prevent a lot of those things from happening by changing the culture and making the region a family-friendly environment."
Having grown up in Nuhaka, between Gisborne and Wairoa, on his granddad's farm, he has always been a local but did his schooling in Auckland before returning to the region as a shepherd for three years.
But after realising "you don't make any money doing it" he returned to Auckland where he brought his own company and went trucking for 15 years.
The pull back home was enticing though and while working back in the region he also became a volunteer firefighter, and then decided to join the police.
"As firefighters we would go to a crash, fires and all that and help at the scene but (we) never knew what happened after that and that was why I found the police interesting, to continue to help people and those in the community."
Police Commissioner Mike Bush, left, Minister of Police Stuart Nash and Constable Craig Henneker at the opening of the new Mahia Police station. Photo / NZPolice
Henneker had a good mate in the Wairoa police who, back in the early 2000s, reckoned it was hard to get officers willing to move to the region.
Already willing to work in the Wairoa region, Henneker applied and three weeks later was attending police college.
Being a small community in Mahia, Henneker has been the sole charge officer for most of his time there and says that the support of the community was a massive help.
"It's a tough job made easier if you have the community support," he said.
"I remember one time I was dealing with an incident at one of the local clubs with a couple of guys causing strife and while I managed to get one of the guys, another tried to flee and at that same time I heard the fire siren go off ... I was just thinking 'please don't be a crash' because I already had my hands full.
"Then as I was thinking that, a group from the volunteer fire brigade swept through and managed to get the other guy and help calm the situation. They came down because they got a callout to help the local cop."
Henneker is returning to trucking, and has bought a Wairoa fertiliser spreading business.
The recent opening of the new Mahia police station was his last hurrah.
He plans to remain a strong part of the community but can now joke that when a car comes racing past his house, he can call up the new cop instead of having to chase the driver himself.
