Warren Bunn retired on July 3. Photo / Michael Cunningham.
Warren Bunn retired on July 3. Photo / Michael Cunningham.
After 43 years, Northland Senior Constable Warren Bunn is saying farewell to his police career that saw him start as a traffic officer, join the serious crash unit and get deployed overseas for service.
Bunn, 65, whose last day at the office was July 3, plans to spend much of his retirement travelling and working around the house like most people.
“As much as I like to think that I’m 25, realistically my body is starting to pack up,” he joked.
During the summer of 1981, he and his wife moved to Northland from their home in Hamilton.
Bunn had secured a job with the traffic safety service of the Ministry of Transport and worked as a traffic officer for 11 and a half years before the ministry merged with the police a decade later.
After spending some time as a frontline officer, he joined the serious crash unit in 2004.
His interest in the specialised unit arose from a combination of wanting a change and attending fatal crashes in the “killing fields” when he was still working as a traffic officer.
The officer said that when he is not at a scene investigating a crash, he is busy writing and filing pending crash reports which were peer-reviewed for accuracy purposes.
These reports were then used in court to provide “expert” evidence.
“What may surprise the public is that we don’t write documentation for prosecution. Since at the end of the day, we work for the judge and provide neutral evidence.
“Our role is to purely find out what caused the crash and not who is at fault,” Bunn said.
Based on his nearly 20 years as a serious crash investigator, he said most fatal crashes were due to “driver error”.
Warren Bunn carried out a scene examination at the site of a fatal crash in 2021. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Apart from weather events causing the rare fatality, most fatal crashes were due to drivers not paying attention, speeding, being under the influence, and not driving to the conditions.
He also emphasised the need for road users to keep their vehicles up to the “fitness standards” to avoid unnecessary crashes.
Their car was caught between a bank and the truck as it slid towards them at 90km/h, lifting the van and shunting it into a ditch. The tourists, both 34, were killed instantly.
He added that modern-day technology helped with investigations.
For instance, his unit used forensic mapping tools to survey crash sites to measure data about the crash.
Police serious crash investigator Warren Bunn documents a fatal crash scene at Omanaia in 2017. Photo/ NZME
“Nowadays we have access to the airbag control module which gives us a lot of information on the speed, if seat belts were worn, whether the driver was braking or not, the position of the steering wheel, what the driver was doing five seconds before the crash and so on.
“It helps us get a better picture of what actually happened.”
Bunn recalled another serious crash in Dargaville involving an elderly man.
After checking the position of the light switch and investigating the brake and tail lights, he concluded that the man was driving his vehicle with his lights off.
“Generally, when lights are switched on and a really bad crash happens, the bulb filament, which is usually a tight coil, extends out. A phenomenon called a hot shock. However, this was not the case with his vehicle.”
Warren Bunn has a career spanning over 42 years. Photo/ John Stone
Bunn maintained that despite attending such horrible crashes, he doesn’t get nightmares or is much affected. He was focused on getting the job done to the best of his abilities.
During his off days, he worked as a football referee for junior and senior teams, which he has been doing for 35 years now.
As a youth, he always liked playing the game as a midfielder and gradually moved closer to the nets and played as a goalkeeper.
Sports is what helped him pass the police fitness tests regularly, he said.
Warren Bunn has been a football referee for about 35 years now. photo/John Stone
Looking back at his career, Bunn felt that his deployment to the Solomon Islands was his biggest highlight.
Although he was sent to the Islands during reduced tensions in 2011, he carried a Glock pistol during his rounds for safety reasons.
“But it was a fun time as well as I caught up with the local referees over there. And being a scout leader all my life I met up with their scout association as well.
“Such was the connection that my wife and I have been going to the islands privately every second year.”
Bunn reckons he didn’t have to be anybody special to do what he does. Rather it was the “extraordinary” nature of his job that made it interesting.
Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency services reporter at the Northern Advocate. He was previously at the Gisborne Herald as the arts and environment reporter and is passionate about covering stories that can make a difference. He joined NZME in July 2023.
