New Year Honours: Northland police officer appointed MNZM for services to Search and Rescue

Senior Sergeant Cliff Metcalfe has been part of the Northland Police Search and Rescue squad since 1996. Photo / File

A Whangārei police officer has been appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to the New Zealand Police and Search and Rescue.

Senior Sergeant Cliff Metcalfe, who has spent 26 years in Search and Rescue, around 18 of them as the officer in charge, said he was “very surprised and very humbled” to receive the honour.

“It’s an honour, an absolute honour to receive it and totally not expected.”

Metcalfe said he saw the MNZM as a recognition of the work of the whole Search and Rescue team and their partners such as the Coastguard, the Civil Aviation Authority and LandSAR, not just himself.

“You don’t do search and rescue for individual recognition. You do it because there’s a passion for rescuing people, being in that environment and wanting to give something back to the community.

“When you get good results, it’s really positive. When you don’t get the result you’re after but you get closure, that’s a significant result in itself.”

Metcalfe said there were a number of search and rescue operations that stood out over the years.

One was the rescue of eight schoolchildren in Waipū Caves in 2007, and another was the Enchanter tragedy earlier this year when five people were killed and four rescued after a charter fishing boat overturned.

“Over 26 years in Search and Rescue and 28 years in the police, there’s been a huge amount of satisfaction in rescuing people. There have been some significant events I’ve been involved with. You have your highs and you have your lows,” Metcalfe said.

“We’re also involved in victim identification and that’s the most unpleasant part of the job.”

Other operations Metcalfe has been involved in included a four-day search for Whangārei man Brian Bench in 2021, the largest search in Northland in 17 years, and the search for missing Korean man Sun II Keum in 2004.

Prior to joining the police, Metcalfe spent 20 years in the Air Force, where part of his role was survival training, and said moving into Search and Rescue when he joined the police was a natural progression for him.

“I was fortunate I could bring that skill set into the police,” Metcalfe said.

He has also helped organise the annual Blu Heelers fishing tournament, which raises money for Hospice, for the last 23 years.