North Dunedin Police Constable Julian Real took up the position of Community Constable at the station last week.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Const Real moved to New Zealand 13 years ago and has been a member of the New Zealand Police for the past six years.
Prior to a two-year stint working along side the Criminal Investigation Branch at Dunedin Central, which he has just finished, Const Real worked as an inquiry officer in North Dunedin.
Although his scope of operation in North Dunedin would cover areas such as Pine Hill, Opoho and parts of the varsity, the boundaries for this type of policing were not so fixed.
‘‘As a Community Constable you tend to write your own job description,'' Const Real said.
‘‘While I'm here I want people to feel free to come and see me if they think there are any issues that I can help with.''
Const Real said there was a real buzz around community policing at the moment and hopefully it would become even more prominent in the future.
‘‘Police management today is keen to re-draw the connections between the police and the community.
‘‘These days, we only tend to see police driving around in cars handing out tickets and it has kind of given the police a bad rap in recent years.''
Working with schools and businesses within the community to identify problems and find potential solutions was the number one priority, Const Real said.
‘‘I realise that 90 per cent of the crime in the community is being caused by 10 per cent of the population and I'm keen to work with those people to resolve what issues we can. I'm looking forward to applying a variety of problem solving techniques to make North Dunedin a better place to live.''
One of the challenges with policing in North Dunedin was the area was constantly changing, Const Real said.
Other challenges ahead included dealing with known gang members and policing the student population.
‘‘Dealing with the University students is always an interesting experience.
‘‘My main concern is to help reduce the offences against them, like property crime and assaults.''
Const Real said, for a variety of reasons, a lot of things went unreported in the student community.
‘‘There is a core element of criminals in this city that thrive on the student population and we need to work out ways to attack that problem. Our best bet would be to get the students on side.''
