Senior Sergeant James Calvert is off to the Solomon Islands.
Senior Sergeant James Calvert is off to the Solomon Islands.
A top Northland cop is heading to the Solomon Islands at the end of the month as part of a deployment of three officers from around New Zealand.
Senior Sergeant James Calvert expected to be in the island nation for 12 months as part of a team of New Zealandpolice officers advising local law enforcement.
The Whangārei prevention team supervisor had been wanting to go on a deployment for some time, but didn't want to miss out on anything when his children were small.
"An overseas deployment is something I've been keen to do ever since I joined the police," he told the Advocate.
Calvert decided it was the right time for him to go on a deployment as his children were now 11 and 14.
"I'm lucky to have the support of my wife, and lucky that my career in the police gives me the opportunity to do these things."
Calvert, and the two officers deployed with him, would be part of a team of seven New Zealand police serving in an advisory capacity in the Solomon Islands.
Although Calvert was eager to have the opportunity to help the community in a developing country, he said he knew it would be difficult work.
"One of the things they say to you in pre-deployment training is that we don't go to these places because they're easy, we go because they're hard."
As well as pre-deployment training, he had spoken to colleagues who had already been to the Solomon Islands to find out what to expect.
Recent political tensions over a policing deal between the Solomon Islands and China do not particularly affect Calvert's role, he said.
"Our job is to go and demonstrate that New Zealand is a great partner country. We've got a long history of work in the Solomon Islands and we continue to build on that."
The number of New Zealand officers in the country and the length of deployments were reduced for a time due to difficulties getting there and back during the pandemic.
Rioting in November last year led to extra police and defence force personnel being sent to the Solomon Islands on a short-term basis from both Australia and New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images
Days of rioting in November last year led to extra police and defence force personnel being sent to the Solomon Islands on a short-term basis from both Australia and New Zealand.
The current advisory role of the New Zealand police in the Solomon Islands began in 2017, after the end of the RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands) which lasted for 14 years.
