I have had the privilege relieving in the role of Rotorua's area commander for the past two months. I say a privilege, because I've always admired the work done by all the teams and individuals that make up Rotorua police.
Inspector Bruce Horne has recently been asked to work in Wellington until April 2014 so I will continue to get involved in the great police work that goes on in Rotorua until his return.
As area commander, I have three direct reports: Inspector Ed van den Broek is our area prevention manager leading our community, youth, road policing, neighbourhood policing team, family violence and alcohol harm teams. Senior Sergeant Karl Konlechner is OC response leading the frontline public safety teams, Murupara station and our dedicated station support officers. Detective Senior Sergeant Zane Smith leads our investigation teams, which include CIB, tactical and our expert scene of crime officers.
From my perspective, this new structure is working well and should hopefully make communication within Rotorua better.
For all of us, the overarching goals are to reduce crime, prevent crashes that kill and injure our families on the roads and do all of this while looking after each other and operating within budget; just as anyone has to.
