After 30 years in New Zealand Police based mainly in Dunedin, Mr Richards is now semi-retired in Wānaka as a driving instructor for those needing better skills on the road.
As an officer and eventually senior constable Mr Richards spent half his time in the front line and the latter half as a police driving instructor.
He was also part of an investigations team.
He was frank about why he eventually left the force at 54: the politics and paperwork took away the joy of the job and why he joined in the first place.
"We all join for the same reason — you see the horrible s... in the world and you want to help people. But often the politics gets in the way."
As time went on the job became more about spending time in the office than doing the job itself, Mr Richards said.
This was not entirely because of management, but the way crime and surveillance had changed over time.
As technology advanced, so did the criminals, he said.
"There were big changes in police over the years. Police became really scrutinised by the public, or media, or internally. Criminals also became a lot more organised.
"I would train everyone as though they are going to get recorded — you should speak the way you’d like to be spoken to."
He said as drugs became more prominent, not only in gangs but households, things became more dangerous for those on the front line.
"In terms of meth, suddenly there was a lot of money to be made by these criminals, so the stakes were higher.
"It used to be that you’d be worried to receive a punch in the face on the job maybe, but it was becoming a lot more volatile and instead you would be worried about being shot or knifed by these criminals."
Mr Richards recalled several times he and his colleagues were on high-stakes jobs where their own lives were in danger — it was part and parcel of the job.
As time progressed he started a family and needed to get away from the dangers of the front line.
The timing was perfect, as the police were upgrading their drivers in the force because of several well-documented incidents and bad statistics of police-chase vehicle deaths on the road.
In 15 years, there were 16 deaths involving police cars and chase scenarios.
This was when he trained for and became a police driving instructor, which he said was a dream job.
"My job was awesome then — I had access to racetracks."
He would take police drivers on racetracks to train or on some of new Zealand’s most dangerous roads such as the Devil’s Staircase or through Makarora to the West Coast.
He said since the training was introduced to New Zealand Police a lot of the driving had improved and the crash statistics had gone down.
"The bulk of drivers in the police are really good."
His eventual reasons for leaving were both the paperwork and never feeling safe on the job.
"You always had to be watching your back.
"There are a lot of egos in the police, a tonne of paperwork and a lot of covering your a... with paperwork, too. You can’t just do your job."
