Sergeant Steve Watt, 47, was elected as the new association president on Wednesday during the organisation’s 90th annual conference.
He replaces outgoing president Detective Inspector Chris Cahill, who held the position for nine years, but did not seek re-election.
Sgt Watt has 13 years’ experience in the association, which has 13,500 members, comprising constabulary and police employees, during which time he has been a committee chairman and "Region 7" (Southern) director.
For the past three years, he has been the association’s vice-president.
Born and raised in Oamaru, Sgt Watt completed a bachelor of commerce at the University of Otago before joining the police in 2000.
At the same time he was applying for the police, he also applied for a job as a real estate agent, and ultimately had to choose which career path he wanted.
In October, 2021, when he was appointed Southern director, he told the police association he chose the former because "I had always wanted to drive fast and lock up baddies".
Sgt Watt and his wife Lisa, a detective in Queenstown, moved to the resort about 2005.
In the Wakatipu, Sgt Watt, a rugby referee in his spare time, primarily worked on the public safety team, through which he was promoted to sergeant, then spent a couple of years as prevention sergeant, looking after family harm, before being promoted to Otago Lakes Central road policing team leader just over two years ago.
Regarding his new job, Sgt Watt said he was "absolutely ecstatic".
"It’s something I’ve been working toward since I joined the association ... I couldn’t be happier — to be able to represent the membership and just enhance the association and what we stand for with our members is pretty exciting."
Staff safety was at the top of his priority list, he said.
"We’re just talking about body cameras at the moment, and that’s something that’s high on the agenda given if those are introduced, it will increase the safety of our staff, and increase the safety of the public as well."
He would also be focused on pay rounds, starting with the constabulary next year, followed by the employee and managers’ collective, while another focal point would be on the coming "remuneration design group".
"That’s focused on reducing the number of steps in the various bands in both the police and employee cohorts — currently, most ... sit on 21 steps to get to the top of their band, and if you compare that with nurses, who only have seven, there’s a big disparity there."
Sgt Watt also wanted to speed up investigations of members.
"There’s quite a number of priorities, if I’m honest."
While he hoped to start in his new role in a fortnight, Det Watt would remain in Queenstown so the couple’s sons, Fletcher, 13, and Spencer, 11, could finish the school year, before the family relocated to the capital.
"If there’s anywhere in the North Island I would move to, it would be Wellington, and the family’s really excited to be moving up as well," he said.
However, they would "really miss Queenstown".
"My heart’s still in Queenstown, I absolutely love the place ... and I’ve really enjoyed Queenstown station — my job there, and the staff that I work with are phenomenal."
