KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's first policewoman motorcycle officer has donned her helmet and taken to the highway.
Constable Cath Weir, from Christchurch, has qualified to ride the police's big BMW 1200cc motorbikes on the roads and their Honda 250cc machines off road.
She was the first woman to qualify since the police and Ministry of Transport merged in 1992.
National motorcycle instructor, Sergeant Wayne Christie, said Ms Weir was brought to the Porirua police college before the two-week training course for two days of assessment and evaluation riding.
He needed to be sure that because of her slight build, she could handle the motorcycles' weight and size.
"Cath demonstrated greater consistency than other course members and deserves full credit for overcoming her lack of size and weight...it's not about muscle, it's about learning and maintaining good skilled use of the machine's controls," Mr Christie said.
- NZPA
