Kilikiti cops go out to bat for recruits

Members of the I'A o Le Vainu'u kilikiti team from Auckland prepare for their game at Ngati Otara Park in Manukau City. Picture / Greg Bowker

Police officers put on skirts and joined a Pacific Island cricket match on Saturday to encourage recruitment.

Two police teams, from Wellington and Auckland, took part in the kilikiti competition at Ngati Otara Park in Manukau.

Police Pacific strategic adviser Inspector To'omata Api Fiso said the championships, now in their third year, were an opportunity for the police to engage with the Pacific community in New Zealand.

The Office of the Police Commissioner in Wellington donated the prize shield. On Saturday Auckland regained the shield, which they lost to Wellington last year.

The Samoan and Tokelauan teams were narrowed down to six from each city after earlier competitions which had involved a total of 70 teams.

Mr Fiso said the competition had helped boost the percentage of Pacific Island recruits from 3.5 per cent of the force to 4.1 per cent.

"We also stress that there are a lot of non-sworn police jobs like in human resources, police infringement and youth development programmes they may be interested in."

Mr Fiso said one of the biggest recruitment barriers among Pacific Islanders was the misconception that a police career was unobtainable.

"We do have high standards, but there a lot of situations where applicants who could meet the criteria don't think of the police as a career ... and we have mentoring courses."

Samoan community leader Tofilau Kerupi Tavita said the kilikiti championship was also about re-forging family ties.

"There are a lot of assumptions the family unit is tight among our people, but every generation it becomes weaker."

Tofilau Kerupi said kilikiti was not just a game. It was about protocol and strong values, such as respecting people and knowing one's place.

In New Zealand the number of competitive teams was growing and each represented a Samoan village, which gave the players a sense of identity and connection with Samoa.

Tofilau Kerupi said it was also important in bringing to the events representatives from the likes of the police and immigration.

"Instead of the authorities expecting the people to come to them, they go to where the people are. It is a more effective way."

The match umpire, Malufautoaga Lilo, said he learned to play kilikiti, his "favourite game", as a teenager on Upolu Island in Samoa.

Now his New Zealand-born sons and grandchildren enjoy the game, although, he said, some youngsters are a bit casual with the many rules.

From the boundary, spectator Sonny Masina, 18, said he enjoyed kilikiti more than cricket. "But the Twenty20 game at Eden Park on Thursday was pretty good."
A first-year computer science student at Victoria University, Mr Masina confessed he wouldn't mind joining the police. "I think I'd like catching criminals."