There’s a new Māori sharpshooter in town and he’s had enough firearms training to come out with all guns blazing. But it’s Superintendent Scott Gemmell’s negotiating skills that will be called upon to fit the new role of police director of partnerships for Tāmaki Makaurau.
It’s a role in a town Gemmell, one of five siblings, knows well.
The new role will make Gemmell the main point of police contact for engaging with Māori, Pacific and ethnic communities as well as government agencies like the Ministries of Social Development, Justice, Health and Education, and Oranga Tamariki, the council and Civil Defence.
It’s a job where tact and diplomacy will not only be required but needed.
He and the three district commanders of Waitematā, Auckland and Counties Manukau and a deployment superintendent will report directly to Police Assistant Commissioner for Tāmaki Makaurau, Sam Hoyle.
The area is from Kaiwaka in the north to Port Waikato in the south.
“This job has a very wide remit and has responsibility for all organisations that police have a close affiliation with from Oranga Tamariki to justice to health, customs and council, the mayor’s office and civil defence emergency,” Gemmell said.
Officers from the Police Special Tactics Group (STG).
“I also have responsibility for Pacific and Ethnic Services and a partnership role to Māori communities.
“It’s a big brief and the appointment is permanent. One of my key roles is to make it sustainable.”
Gemmell is hoping that his reach across the region will enable quick responses to partner agencies.
“If partner agencies or ministries wanted to get a programme of work up and running that requires a component from police, it can take time because we have three police districts,” he says.
“My role as partnerships director will hopefully remove inefficiencies and duplications, plus what is the best model for Māori communities and what police can do to assist those communities.”
Gemmell attended Royal Oak Primary, Ōnehunga, Manukau Intermediate (now Royal Oak Intermediate), Auckland Grammar and then Auckland University, studying law. He graduated with a Masters of Laws while working at the family shoe store, Gemmell’s in Symonds St, Auckland - which will turn 100 in 2025.
Whānau is important to this career cop, who met his wife, a Rogers from Northland, on a university kapa haka trip.
The couple have five children, aged 18, 15, 13, 12 and 9, who have been schooled at kohanga reo and then to Te Kura Māori o Nga Tapuwae College, Mangere, where Gemmell is on the board of trustees. The children are all involved in an out-of-school activity - sport and/or kapa haka.
“That’s who we are and I’m very proud of that,” Gemmell said.
The ex-commander of the Auckland Offenders Squad (AOS) and a former member of the police Special Tactics Group (STG) has held a number of positions across the rohe.
He recalls walking into the Auckland Central Police Station as a 16-year-old. He was taken aside by a senior sergeant and told to come back after he had completed his studies.
“I was grateful for the advice,” Gemmell said. “He could have said ‘hey, you’re in your school uniform, come back when you’ve grown up’ but didn’t and I appreciated his advice.”
In 2002, Gemmell’s burning desire to join the police could not be extinguished any longer.
“I’d done my studies and decided that police was the career I wanted to take and I’ve loved every position I have been in,” Gemmell said.
“I started in Manurewa and have never looked back.
“I have worked in pretty much every Counties-Manukau station in some capacity.”
Gemmell trained to join the Auckland AOS squad in 2007 and stayed as commanding officer until last year. In 2009, he joined the STG - a fulltime squad - and remained until 2018.
He was welcomed into his new job with a pōwhiri in April, held at Te Kura Māori o Ngā Tapuwae.
“It’s nice for our staff to come and see people in great moments and excelling that. That’s a good counterbalance and it keeps people, it keeps us measured and understanding the people are ours, all of our whānau are whānau and we will be there for them,” Gemmell says.
