Tia the Porirua police cat wins hearts online

It's only been a couple of months since New Zealand farewelled Constable Elliot, the police guinea pig, but it's time for Kiwis to open their hearts to the newest four-legged addition to the force.

Tia the police cat may only work for 30 minutes at a time, and yes, she may spend much of her shift sleeping, and cleaning herself, but she is already helping to fill the void left behind when Constable Elliot passed away in August.

A video of the Birman in a police vest has been posted to the Wellington District Police Facebook page, introducing Tia to her instant fans.

She was brought in to help out on a case by Porirua's Senior Constable Kerry Morrell.

"On this particular day, Tia was helping out our Scene of Crime officers with some investigations," a police spokeswoman said.

"She's also pretty good at admin, paperwork, and the odd bit of light typing. But her favourite thing is nap time.

"Tia doesn't come to work very often. Our human officers work so much faster so she tends to stay home most of the time. And she knows our dogs are just a little bit better at some police work than cats."

The spokeswoman said Constable Elliot was a "very valued member of the police family" and was "truly missed".

"We appreciate and promote diversity in the NZ Police human and animal ranks - cats, dogs, and guinea pigs alike.

"This is NZ's fourth police cat that we're aware of. Earlier in the year we posted three of our cats and asked the public to vote for their favourite. There's Toby, Manurewa Molly, and Senior Constable Snickers - he has his own Instagram page."