Bay of Plenty District Superintendent Andy McGregor. Photo / NZME
Andy McGregor knows better than most the mind is a terrible thing to waste.
That might be cliché, but the retired Bay of Plenty Police District Commander Superintendent knows it to be true.
And it's exactly what has him worried about youth offending in the region.
After 42 and a half years on the force, McGregor's farewell was on May 27.
Detective Superintendent Tim Anderson will relieve in the district commander role for the next three months until a replacement is found.
Whoever that may be, McGregor says youth offending will be a big challenge for them to tackle.
But policing was not all doom and gloom and in fact, there were more positives than negatives, McGregor thought.
The Bay of Plenty Police District covers the area from Katikati in the north, east to the tip of East Cape and south past Tūrangi in the central North Island.
Asked what problems faced the district going forward, McGregor told NZME youth offending was the "big one".
"There's a lot of news in the paper at the moment in terms of the ram raids that become smash-and-grabs.
"We've got youth offenders as young as 12 stealing cars and driving right across the district.
"They may steal a car in Taupō and end up going to Rotorua, Whakatāne and eventually Tauranga. They're in and out. It's huge."
But it was the long-term repercussions that concerned McGregor most.
Current legislation worked for 85 per cent of those youth offenders and they wouldn't reoffend, McGregor said. Others grew out of it but 2 to 4 per cent of youth fell through the cracks and the law didn't cater for them.
"Nothing caters for them," McGregor said. "There's a big gap there and we need to do something about it.
"What do you do with these kids? They need a lot of intensive treatment. Locking them up doesn't work because they'll be released and out there doing the same thing.
"They've got no fear of consequences and no empathy in terms of the types of crime they're committing. There's something missing there."
Youth offenders often came from dysfunctional families, which often resulted in them wagging school, McGregor said.
"You think, in the future, where these kids aren't getting an education they then don't have the skills to get a job, what then becomes of them?
"You've got to look at the environment they grow up in and it's probably very violent and [they are] the subject of violence on numerous occasions. That is quite common."
McGregor had a stark message about how to cut crime rates in the region.
"If we don't get rid of the violence in our homes, then nothing will ever change.
"It's not just dealing with the victims, which is really important but dealing with the offenders and how we stop them from being violent.
"Also dealing with the kids that are actually witnessing a lot of this violence. The whole thing with them is to really reinforce and demonstrate that what they're seeing is not normal."
Through the work of the Gang Harm Reduction Unit, local police have been able to free up a lot of resources that previously were focused on gangs, whether it be on rides, tangi or hui.
"We've built up credibility and trust with them," McGregor said.
"That's not to say that we don't police the gangs, because we do, and we've always told them if they commit offences, you're going to be arrested, charged and put before the courts."
The relationships they had established meant when there were gang tensions they were able to get in early and help reduce any harm.
McGregor was thankful for extra policing staff, enabling them to further their work of tackling organised crime and the impact of gangs.
The recent addition of 1800 extra frontline police nationwide by the Labour Government resulted in 125 extra staff for the Bay of Plenty region. Of that, around 30 have gone directly into crime and gang harm prevention.
McGregor started his career as a policeman in January 1980.
"When I first started on the beat in Auckland you were lucky if you got a police radio," McGregor said.
"[Since then there has been a] huge change in terms of demand. We're dealing with more complex social issues and sophistication in terms of technology.
"Talking to people, engaging with them, they probably were a lot more compliant [in 1980] than what they are now."
He went to Gisborne on promotion to sergeant and went across to the Criminal Investigation Branch after he was made detective sergeant.
Then, as a senior sergeant, he became a member of the Armed Offenders Squad and eventually became the officer in charge of the squad.
From there he moved to Christchurch, where he worked in the New Zealand Police communication centres - the 111 call centres.
He became a policing development manager in the Canterbury district, focusing on strategic planning and building partnerships.
"That was a role that demonstrated the importance of partnerships but working with community groups, the organisation and the community."
Building strong partnerships would be a skill he would use again in the Bay of Plenty.
McGregor next became an area commander in Christchurch and Canterbury, looking after, at different times, Canterbury South and Canterbury North.
He later became the national manager of the communication centres, which was "a very exciting time of my life" despite the Christchurch earthquake happening during that time.
"You had dispatchers and the communicators actually hanging on to their desk so they weren't thrown across the floor. They are amazing and stayed right through their shift."
After that, it was on to the Bay of Plenty where he served as district commander for seven and a bit years.
McGregor said his time in the Bay of Plenty had been "a fantastic journey" and there had been "a lot of learning".
The partnerships local police had established during his time here were a highlight.
"I suppose because of the relationships we've built with the community, iwi, and government agencies, we're already on a strong footing," he said.
"We've got quite a strong team comprising of iwi representatives from across the Bay of Plenty, representatives from the [territorial authorities], the representatives from the two DHBs, from some Government agencies."
He tried to take a glass-half-full approach in his work and said there were a lot more positives to being on the force than negatives.
"People probably think of police as going around just dealing with incidents of violence and things like that.
"But it's actually a lot of other stuff in terms of prevention and doing some stuff with offenders so they don't come to our attention again.
"Helping families with the struggles they're facing. It's about taking opportunities that turn people's lives around."
McGregor also had plenty to say about the police officers throughout the region who had been forced to deal with a lot of major challenges over the past few years.
From the Whakaari/White Island explosion to the Covid-19 pandemic, McGregor said the efforts of officers - and others - saved lives.
One memory of the Edgecumbe flood in 2017 stood out.
"The cops there, when they knew there was a danger of the stopbank blowing out or breaching, they went and got farm tractors and trailers and were able to rescue a lot of people," McGregor said.
"I've got no doubt because of their actions and those of others, they saved a lot of lives.
"The force of the water to move houses off their foundations when it breached was amazing. [It was] very lucky no one was killed."
In his role, McGregor said it was important that he was often out and about.
"I always called it feeling the pulse of the engine," he said.
"People around you always tell you what you want to hear sometimes [and] what I like is getting out and talking to the frontline staff, seeing how things are going, what are their concerns, what do you think we can do better, what do I need to do, what do I need to improve on."
McGregor said it was a job that meant he needed to sleep with his cellphone on, so he was looking forward to winding down and relaxing.
"When it goes off at the weekend or the middle of the night, it's probably not a good thing," he said.
"I've been very lucky with a very supportive family right through my policing career and especially my partner and her daughter who have been with me the past seven and a half years as DC, putting up with those phone calls at night or on the weekend."
McGregor is looking forward to building a home on a block of land "north of Tauranga" but still in the Bay of Plenty.
There are calves on the block keeping him busy with things like fencing and he looked forward to getting some native bush planting done too.
"It's been a blast ... It's been one of those jobs I've been lucky where every morning I've looked forward to it," McGregor said.
"It's a hard job what I'm doing and I still want to get out while I'm motivated and passionate and have time to enjoy my retirement."
But it's the people McGregor will miss most.
"I'm lucky I've had a great team around me, that makes my job a lot easier and, bloody hell, we've got staff coming to work every day doing amazing things.
"I keep saying to them to not ever underestimate the positive impact you have on people's lives with the things you do day in and day out.
"You might just think you've just done your job but you've made a big difference in someone's life."
The Rotorua law student who authored it says the support was 'overwhelming but inspiring'.