KEY POINTS:
During his 37-year police career, Detective Sergeant Dave Henwood has been a South Auckland cop through and through, and proud of it.
For the most part it has meant "enjoying the hunt" and the camaraderie of close colleagues.
But there has been the odd time when it has landed him in trouble. Like the July 1995 day he and colleague Brett Simpson arrested Joseph Thompson, the notorious serial rapist.
"We took him for a drive and he was pointing out houses where he had committed offences in Mt Eden and Mt Albert.
"But being a South Auckland policeman, I was out of my home patch and we got lost and didn't know where we were. We were depending on Joey Thompson to get us out of there."
It's the funny incidents that stick in the 55-year-old's mind as he reflects on a career enmeshed with brutality and gruesomeness.
"I'm fond of all my days. There were obviously times that weren't good, but I forget the bad times and just remember the good ones."
Mr Henwood - known by everyone as "Chook" because of his surname - will retire on Wednesday as one of the most decorated detectives in the country, with three silver merit awards - the highest commissioner's award available to investigators.
He will spend the next few months holidaying in Britain with his wife, Carolyn. Not one for sitting down, he plans to walk the London Marathon.
A former boss, retired Detective Inspector John Manning, described Mr Henwood as a persevering and highly skilled investigator - as well as a genuine person.
"One of the great things about Chook is that he isn't a bombastic blowhard and he has a lot of compassion," said Mr Manning. "That allows him to build a lot of rapport - with victims and offenders. What you see with him is what you get."
Mr Henwood, tall and athletic with a long mane of silver hair and a goatee beard, joined the police in 1970 as a 17-year-old from Papatoetoe High School.
"But from humble beginnings, he's left a legacy," said Mr Manning. For the past decade, Mr Henwood has led the criminal profiling section, a specialist team that analyses behavioural patterns and identifies likely offenders.
Superintendent Ted Cox, Auckland Metro Crime and Operations Support commander and a member of Mr Henwood's original cadet wing, says the profiling unit has been invaluable.
"Dave was instrumental in setting up the unit and has since provided the leadership to promote criminal profiling as a tool used in police investigation plans," said Mr Cox.
Mr Henwood said profiling was misunderstood by people who formed their opinions from TV crime drama (which, by the way, he refuses to watch. The only cop show he ever liked was Hill Street Blues because it reminded him of his early days in the Otahuhu station).
The unit helps on "whodunit" cases, advising on what the crime scene and modus operandi say about the offender and deducing likely aspects of his background.
Mr Henwood said they had provided inquiries with suspect lists. "Sometimes we've had the right person at the top of the list, other times they're not on it. It's just another tool to be used - it's certainly not the first step for an investigation team."
Another specialty is giving what the courts call "similar-fact evidence". Mr Henwood has been accepted as a specialist witness, called in cases around the country to outline how similar patterns of behaviour by defendants show they may be guilty of the crime they stand accused of.
It is a development he is particularly proud of. "What it does is it backs up your victim," said Mr Henwood. "If you are able to support a victim with other offences and other victims, it's powerful for her or him."
Criminal profiling techniques were used to catch Thompson and Malcolm Rewa, the other serial rapist Mr Henwood was involved in arresting during the 1990s. He is convinced conventional policing methods would never have caught either sex offender.
With Mr Simpson, he carried out the interview in which Thompson confessed to more than 50 rapes dating back to 1983.
But, he said, an even better moment was sitting in the High Court alongside Rewa's victims as he was sentenced to preventive detention with a 22-year minimum non-parole period for sex offences against 24 women between 1987 and 1996.
"This person who had preyed on these people and done all these terrible things had his moment of being ravaged by the judge and the victims all had their moment."
If there are regrets, it's that he does not believe he has ever heard a criminal express true remorse - although they or their lawyers will often say they feel it.
Unsolved cases, including the 1987 murder of Maramarua Red Fox Tavern publican Chris Bush, weigh on him to some extent too. He was involved in the original investigation and inherited the file some years ago.
"To have it unresolved as I walk out the door is not a good feeling, but I can live with it." He declines to comment, but it is understood police have a prime suspect.
Will it ever be solved? "If there's one thing I've learned," said Mr Henwood, "it's never say never."
Top Honours
Detective Sergeant Dave Henwood has received three silver merit awards, the highest Police Commissioner's award available to investigators. They were presented in:
* 1994 For playing a leading role in investigating serious crime in South Auckland as a detective sergeant at Papakura.
* 1996 For Operation Park - the conviction of Joseph Thompson.
* 1998 For Operation Harvey - the conviction of Malcolm Rewa.
