Since then, he has come back for many working stints over the holiday period to help maintain control over Wanaka's New Year revellers.
For the past three years, he has been officer in charge of New Year policing at the Wanaka station, but from Monday, Snr Sgt Grindell (51) will assume his new post as sub-area commander for the Wanaka police.
During his 32 years in the police force, Snr Sgt Grindell has been based mainly in Wellington and Dunedin - from where he has recently relocated.
As a ‘‘team man'', Snr Sgt Grindell said he would miss the comradeship of working in a big city. However, in every other regard, moving to Wanaka was an exciting prospect.
‘‘I've always been in major cities and I saw, particularly with the new positions [extra policing staff allocated to Wanaka],. . . a good chance to plan and build for a community that's growing quickly.''
As well as general frontline duties and team policing, Snr Sgt Grindell has spent time as part of a combined investigation unit involving both CIB and uniformed staff in Wellington and helped build a southern district team policing unit trained to deal with large events and mass disorder.
He has been tactical coordinator for the past four years in Dunedin, encouraging a preventive rather than reactive approach to police work and driving the Dunedin area's crime and crash reduction strategies.
Snr Sgt Grindell said being part of the police escort groups for the Springbok team during the 1981 tour was a highlight of his career to date. Royal tours, strikes in Marsden Point over oil refineries and the Dunedin student riots all feature prominently in his memory, too.
Working closely with the council, community boards and other local agencies to solve problems would be a key focus of his leadership in Wanaka.
‘‘The police by themselves can't address these problems. We have to do it with the community.''
He believed youth issues would be a major consideration for Wanaka in the coming years.
‘‘The school rolls are growing in the area and . . . about 2014 or 2015, we're going to have a lot of young teens and I think the police and the community have to be ready for that.''
The addition of a dedicated youth constable as one of the newly created positions in Wanaka would help address that. Snr Sgt Grindell was also excited about the outdoors opportunities his new base would offer.
‘‘I've owned a home here for a couple of years and I've always loved Wanaka. I love the weather, love the lifestyle.''
Despite being ‘‘a broken down old rugby player'', he is still active in multisport.
