"Their contribution is part of our history and they need to be formally recognised."
A Recognition Project was established in 2013 to identify employees whose loss may not have been previously recognised nationally.
The research is being led by police museum director Rowan Carroll, former Inspector Mike Hill and Sergeant Braydon Lenihan, with support from contracted researcher Dr Elizabeth Plumridge.
It is ongoing, but so far a of people working on the project studied 705 cases and have so far identified 38 police staff who met a specific criteria for remembrance.
They are all police employees who were on duty and executing their duty and died from injury or illness arising as a result.
They include victims of vehicle crashes, drownings, accidents and disease.
They range from the avoidable - such as typhoid caused by poor conditions at police premises - to the heroic, for example Constable Denis Mahoney, killed by an explosion after re-entering a blazing building.
The earliest case is that of Senior Constable Henry Porter, who drowned at Port Chalmers in 1887; the most recent is that of Pam Brien, who died in the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011.
The list includes officers lost when the police launch Lady Elizabeth II capsized in Wellington Harbour in 1986 and when the Eagle helicopter collided with an aircraft over Auckland in 1993.
Rememberance Day falls on 29 September and services will be held across the country. The national service at the RNZPC will be live-streamed on the New Zealand Police national Facebook page from 11am.
Police staff who have died from injury or illness as a direct result of their duties:
Constable Adam BEGG (1926), Auckland - hit by train
Constable Neils BERNTSEN (1941), Whanganui - drowned
Administrator Pamela BRIEN (2011), Christchurch earthquake
Constable George BROOKING (1896), Waihi - blood poisoning
Constable Richard BYRNE (1940), Napier - diving accident
Constable James COTTER (1890), Auckland - typhoid
Constable Andrew CUMMINGS (1946), Auckland - vehicle crash
Constable Norman DAVIS (1939), Auckland - fall from tram
Constable John ELSTONE (1936), Auckland - motorcycle crash
Sergeant Lindsay (Lou) GRANT (1993), Auckland - Eagle helicopter crash
Detective Anthony HARROD (1990), Taranaki - fall from helicopter
Constable Henry HENDERSON (1932), Christchurch - knocked off cycle
Constable Peter HERITAGE (1983) - vehicle crash
Constable Glenn HUGHES (1986), Wellington - Lady Elizabeth sinking
Detective Travis HUGHES (2005), nr Queenstown - plane crash
Constable Alan LIDDELL (1976), Grey River - drowned
Constable Denis MAHONEY (1914) Upper Hutt - explosion
Constable Luke McDONNELL (1901), Auckland - illness
Sergeant Archibald McPHEE (1910), Auckland - food poisoning
Constable Michael MITCHELL (1898), Auckland - typhus
Sergeant Florence O'DONOVAN (1897), Napier - drowning
Constable Patrick O'GORMAN (1935), Auckland - hit by taxi
Constable Cornelius O'SHEA (1887), Auckland - illness
Senior Technician Glenn PHILLIPS (2000), Waikato - helicopter crash
Senior Constable Henry PORTER (1887), Port Chalmers - drowning
Constable James ROBINSON (1891), Westport - accidental head injury
Constable Gregory ROWE (1978), Wellington - drowning
Constable Alastair SAMPSON (1993), Auckland - Eagle helicopter crash
Constable James SHIELDS (1933), Huntly - car hit by train
Constable Hercules SPENCE (1919), Auckland - heart failure after assisting arrest
Constable Alfred STEPHENSON (1897), Napier - drowning
Detective Sergeant Robin THOMPSON (1973), Manawatu Gorge - vehicle crash
Constable Graeme Stuart WACKROW (1984), nr Dannevirke - vehicle crash
Senior Sergeant Philip William WARD (1986), Wellington - Lady Elizabeth sinking
Constable Thomas WARD (1896), Lyttelton - fall from train
Constable William John WATT (1939), near Waimate - vehicle crash
Constable Charles WILLIAMS (1935), Waikato River - drowning
Constable Philip WIPATENE (2004), Taranaki - vehicle crash
Police who have been killed in action:
Senior Constable Len Snee
7 May 2009, Napier
Shot and fatally wounded while carrying out a routine search warrant at the home of Jan Molenaar.
Sergeant Don Wilkinson
11 September 2008, Mangere
Undercover officer fatally shot while trying to install a tracking device on a vehicle outside a suspected P lab.
Sergeant Derek Wootton
11 July 2008, Titahi Bay
Struck by a vehicle as he laid road spikes to stop a vehicle being pursued by police after a serious assault and carjacking.
Detective Constable Duncan Taylor
5 July 2002, Rongotea
Shot and killed when he and his partner attempted to stop a juvenile to question him about a property offence.
Constable Lester Murray Stretch
26 May 1999, Mangakino
Beaten to death as he tried to arrest a youth who had burgled a local store.
Constable Glenn Arthur McKibben
21 April 1996, Flaxmere
Shot by an occupant of a passing vehicle while standing beside his patrol car.
Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthrie
13 November 1990, Aramoana
One of 12 people killed by David Gray who went on a shooting rampage in the small Otago town. Posthumously awarded George Cross 1992.
Senior Constable Peter Morris Umbers
27 May 1990, Ranfurly
Fatally bashed with his own baton when he stopped a robbery suspect. Posthumously awarded George Medal.
Traffic Officer Robin James Dudding
7 April 1986, Rotorua
Shot dead after he was taken hostage at Lake Rotoiti a teen who fired shots at police. Posthumously awarded George Medal.
Traffic Officer Barry Yorston Gibson
13 June 1977, New Plymouth
Assaulted by a man at a routine traffic stop. He never regained consciousness and died of head injuries a week later.
Constable Peter William Murphy
25 September 1976, Invercargill
Shot by a man during the burglary of a sports shop.
Sergeant Gilbert Peter Arcus
4 February 1970, Tauranga
While trying to placate a mentally disturbed woman, he was assaulted and suffered a skull fracture and died an hour later.
Constable Donald Richard Stokes
15 August 1966, Dunedin
While trying to prevent the escape of two prisoners he was beaten to death with a broom handle at the Dunedin Police cells
Constable Bryan Leslie Schultz and Constable James Thomas Richardson
3 February 1963, Lower Hutt
Fatally shot while still in their vehicle outside an address where a domestic dispute had been reported. Both men died instantly.
Detective Sergeant Neville Wilson Power and Detective Inspector Wallace Chalmers
6 January 1963, Waitakere Ranges
Shot dead while attending a shooting in West Auckland. Both were posthumously awarded Queen's Police Medal
Sergeant William Shore Hughes
27 May 1951, Otaki
Shot dead as he tried to protect female occupants of a house from an armed man during a domestic dispute.
Traffic Officer John Kehoe
31 January 1949, Whakatane
Fatally shot after pursuing a motorcycle from the main street to outside the town for excess speed.
Constable Edward Mark Best, Sergeant William Cooper, Constable Frederick William Jordan, Constable Percy Campbell Tulloch
11 October 1941, Koiterangi near Hokitika
Shot dead while trying to apprehend farmer Stanley Graham. Best died three days later, the others died instantly. Graham killed eight people in total.
Constable Thomas Heeps
21 October 1934, Hamilton
He located a man being sought for killing four people in the Otorohanga area and was shot twice while attempting to return him to the police station.
Constable James Dorgan
27 August 1921, Timaru
Shot four times while investigating a shop burglary and died at the scene fifteen minutes later.
Constable John Doyle
6 October 1919, Manawatu
Assaulted and died two days later as a result of the injuries he had received.
Constable Vivian Dudding
6 October 1919, Wellington
While attending a domestic dispute, he was shot in the head by the woman's ex husband.
Sergeant John Patrick Hackett McGuire
14 April 1910, Palmerston North
Shot in the stomach during the hunt for an escaped burglar, he died four days later.
Constable Neil McLeod
30 July 1890, Dargaville
A man who had been removed from a passenger steam ship responded by shooting at the vessel with a pistol as it departed . He fatally wounded Constable McLeod.
