The Whanganui police department will soon be down 75 years of experience when forensic photographer Neville Davidson and crime scene examiner Mike Smith hang up their hats. Both senior constables, they have spent the vast majority of their careers in the River City, experiencing the changing face of policing along the way. Mike Tweed caught up with the pair as they prepared to say goodbye.
Neville Davidson joined the force in 1980 and two years later he started on a five-year qualification period towards the role he still holds today.
"Initially, I just wanted to join the police. It's an adventure," he said.
"There was a vacancy for a relief photographer and, because I had an interest in photography as a hobby when I was a kid, I knew how to develop film and use a camera.
"I thought I'd give it a go."
At present, there are only around 40 forensic photographers in the country.
Mike Smith began his police career in 1988, moving to the Gonville Community Policing Centre in 1991 before beginning his career in forensics in 1994.
He is also a trained forensic photographer, relieving for Davidson for 15 years before passing the role on to the other officer who makes up the Whanganui forensics team, fellow crime scene examiner Tony Strachan.
"Nev and I would work side by side at crime scenes, and I thought 'that looks pretty easy, I could probably do what he does'," Smith said.
"We are pretty unique here in Whanganui because both crime scene examiners are photography trained. We have the expertise to relieve within our unit."
Changes in technology had been "absolutely immense" over the years, and their roles had expanded along with it, Davidson said.
He didn't miss the days of working in a photography darkroom.
"For our work, it's for the better.
"Now, it's not just photography. There's video, CCTV, AV [audio/video] presentation for court, it's a whole different world to when I started."
He said the classic TV show crime scenes, with officers in white suits, boots and gloves, became more prevalent from the late 90s onwards with the advent of DNA, particularly LCN DNA, which was incredibly sensitive.
"If a cop comes along and breathes or talks over it, they can contaminate that surface.
"Contamination is a big thing now, so we've got to be very, very careful.
"Things have slowed down a lot. For one homicide back in 1987, I photographed the scene in the morning, the post mortem in the afternoon, and the whole thing was done and dusted that day.
"Now, we'd probably spend three days to a week on that scene."
Smith said every cop had a camera in their pocket nowadays, which also helped when documenting a crime scene.
Covering those scenes was not something to which they could build up a complete tolerance, he said.
"I think both of us have made the comment 'we don't really want to see another deceased person, thank you very much'.
"You do learn to deal with a lot of the disturbing ones, when children are deceased, that sort of thing. That's never good, and that's never something you want to keep going to.
"We do try and protect ourselves from revisiting the work too much. You've got to be careful that you don't end up dwelling on it and personalising it, and relating.
"That's where you can end up having sleepless nights."
The pair are required to attend regular psychological debriefings with a trained therapist.
"A big shout-out to clinical psychologist Robyn Salisbury," Smith said.
"She's looked after us over the past 15 years and she's been fantastic."
The Whanganui forensics unit itself was one of the first of its kind in the country and having a combined team, as opposed to separate departments for photography, fingerprints and documents, was beneficial in a smaller provincial centre like Whanganui, Davidson said.
It began around 1992 when he and Detective Mark Sutherland joined forces.
Smith was added two years later and they've been in the team ever since.
They've also been involved in search and rescue operations, with Davidson being part of the team that was helicoptered on to Mt Taranaki following a plane crash in 2004.
Both people on board the plane were killed.
As well as locating the plane and recovering the bodies, he was required to record the scene for the air accident inspector.
"That one was particularly precarious. I love the outdoors, but it was an experience I don't wish to repeat any time soon."
Davidson said the vast majority of crime was committed by a small group of people, and the pair's workload had remained steady from day one.
"They are recidivist offenders who keep coming back time and again. That never really changes.
"Things haven't really let up. There are times when there is an emphasis on house burglaries, and lately we've had a great emphasis from our offenders on cars.
"One of the thrills of the job is getting in at the ground floor on big inquiries, and seeing a lot of things behind the scenes that nobody else knows about."
Smith said Davidson had been one of the "leading lights" in luminol-based photography in New Zealand.
Luminol is the spray used to make blood glow in the dark.
"It's about the intensity of starlight or glow worms, and requires 30 seconds to a minute exposures on a tripod," Davidson said.
"That technique was something I developed in conjunction with ESR [Institute of Environmental Science and Research], and they used a lot of my work in their training.
"Footprint photography is another thing I've consulted on. Once again, there are very technical aspects to that."
He said while their work sometimes involved documenting "the worst of humanity", it also played a part in bringing someone to justice.
"Having your work accepted in the highest courts of the land, and giving testimony as an expert witness, is quite satisfying."
Smith had got some spectacular hits with fingerprints and DNA over the years, Davidson said.
"Many years ago there was a case in Rangitīkei where a dwelling had been broken into and it ended up being quite a serious assault.
"Mike and I got called over there, and he got some fingerprints from inside the point of entry where the perpetrator had climbed in. The police over there had no idea who the offender was, and it turned out to be an itinerant who was travelling from Wellington to Auckland."
Smith faxed the fingerprints to Wellington and they had a hit by the end of the day.
"The boss said he wanted the name on his desk by tomorrow morning, and I had it that night," Smith said.
"That's a case where forensics really does save the day. No amount of area inquiries would have revealed who he was, and there was no CCTV back in those days."
More often than not, offenders would commit crimes on the spur of the moment but go to great lengths afterwards to cover it up, Smith said.
"They usually do a very bad job of it too, it's not like what you see on the TV or in the movies."
Davidson said while they wouldn't miss the job itself, it would be hard to say goodbye to their workmates, all of whom had been excellent to work with.
"That goes for both CIB [Criminal Investigation Branch] and frontline staff.
"We're just one part of a much bigger team."
As for the future, Smith said he would be touring the country with his wife in a campervan.
"Before that, I think I just want to do nothing for a while."
Davidson said his family would be his number one priority.
"I've got a granddaughter, and my daughter lives here. I just want to spend more time with them, and with my son too.
"Like Mike said, in the honeymoon period maybe I'll just do nothing. A bit of winding down time is what we both need.
"We need to get the police system out of our system."
