Constable Bruce McLean (39) takes up his position in the resort town next week, boosting the staff count at Wanaka police station to ten fulltime officers.
Const McLean has been in the police force for eleven years, most of which had been spent in Dunedin.
Four months ago, after a two-year wait for a transfer to come through, he moved to Cromwell where he owned a holiday house.
He said moving up and working in the town was even better than expected.
Once the transfer process was set in motion, the next move was to his ultimate destination - Wanaka.
‘‘I always wanted to be up here,'' Const McLean said.
Having two young children already living in Wanaka meant Const McLean has spent a large amount of time in the town in recent years and has become quite familiar with the area.
He said the positives of working in a small town like Cromwell or Wanaka are ‘‘tremendous''.
Compared to Dunedin, where he was ‘‘just another blue suit'', he enjoyed being more recognisable and being greeted personally by members of the community.
‘‘I see working here as policing the way it should be.
‘‘I get a lot of cooperation from all sectors of the community I am involved with.''
He had noticed the biggest change from city policing was that it was community-oriented (in Cromwell) and there was more problem-solving involved in terms of getting to the bottom of larger issues and finding solutions, rather than just passing things down a chain.
‘‘Here I take something on and deal with it until it's finished.''
Const McLean said the main differences he expected to encounter in Wanaka included a lot more search and rescue work and a more tourism focused style of policing.
He acknowledged the public concern surrounding the perceived low policing levels in Wanaka, and said the extra police officer would help lighten the load and address some of the major problems the town presently faces, such as the crime issues during winter with the population increase.
‘‘Maybe it's just going to mean that they [Wanaka police] will be able to keep their heads above water.''
Const McLean said he was best-suited to working on the street with people, as opposed to being stuck behind a desk doing paperwork.
As a successful triathlete who has competed in more than 100 events, including two world championships and the national series, plus this year's Challenge Wanaka, Const McLean is also looking forward to the training opportunities Wanaka will present in terms of weather, biking routes and scenery.
He is also a keen snowboarder, although ‘‘not a very good one'', and hopes to develop his skills in that arena now he will have easy access to the slopes, as well as becoming involved with triathlon coaching in which he is already experienced.
Now he had finally landed a position in Wanaka, Const McLean said he had no intention of going anywhere else.
‘‘Really, I just want to live and work and be in that place,'' he said.
‘‘I can't think of anything better.
‘‘I don't think there's anything I'm not looking forward to.''
