Colleagues pay tribute to Detective Inspector Mark Loper who is retiring from police.
Detective Inspector Mark Loper loved to catch the bad guys - even if at times that meant arresting people using his thumb and forefinger pretending he had a gun.
That was just one of the many funny yarns from days gone by that surfaced at a special farewell for therespected Bay of Plenty crime services manager held yesterday at the Rotorua Lakes Council Chamber.
Loper, 63, has been forced to retire early after being diagnosed with Parkinson's last year.
Detective Inspector Mark Loper has retired from police after 37 years. Photo / Kelly Makiha
In front of a room full of colleagues, police hierarchy rattled off the impressive list of everything Loper has achieved in his 37 years of policing.
It was perhaps best summed up with Detective Superintendent Tim Anderson's words.
"This place is a safer and better place thanks to you."
Finger-gun-arrest aside, Loper has had an impressive career carrying arguably the busiest and most serious caseload of anyone.
Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers spoke at the function and said Loper would "go down in history" as being one of the New Zealand Police's "most competent and capable leaders" of serious crime investigations.
During 2018 and 2019, he led 14 homicide investigations alone - the most of any New Zealand policing district - and grappled with what Bay of Plenty district commander Superintendent Andy McGregor described as an "embarrassingly" high rate of child abuse.
"We have got some of the highest demand in the country for child abuse and we should be embarrassed by it."
Detective Inspector Lew Warner, Detective Inspector Mark Loper, Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers, Superintendent Andy McGregor and Detective Superintendent Tim Anderson. Photo / Kelly Makiha
McGregor said not only was Loper's caseload high, but the district's success rate punched above others.
He's led investigations including the murder of 3-year-old Nia Glassie, capture of "runaway millionaires" Kara Hurring and Leo Gao and solved the cold case shooting of Rodney Tahu in Turangi that saw Rotorua man Menzies Hallett convicted 32 years after he pulled the trigger.
It was said he had worked for thousands of victims and their families getting results for them during their time of grief and high vulnerability and Anderson spoke of the relationships Loper would strike with victims of crime - mentioning it as a "sight to behold".
Anderson said Loper had a knack of always remaining positive no matter the circumstances - or the surroundings - including the run-down former Rotorua police station.
He described the rain that would leak down the inside of walls near electrical sockets that forced him out of his office to instead give briefings with staff holding a whiteboard in the stairwells.
"He didn't miss a beat because he wanted to catch the bad guys."
Colleagues says Detective Inspector Mark Loper had a knack of always remaining positive. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Detective Inspector Lew Warner, who has taken over Loper's role, described him as a quiet achiever and solid leader - using the words calm, confident and committed to describe how he worked.
He thanked Loper's wife, parents and three children for sharing him during the past nearly four decades with the police family.
Former detective Mike Keefe spoke of his time working alongside Loper and said "dignity" summed him up.
"Dignity means trust, honesty and communication. You were really good with that stuff and you still are."
Loper was presented with gifts from his police colleagues including a taonga from Rotorua police area commander Inspector Phil Taikato and a mounted police baton in recognition of commitment to police during 37 years from McGregor on behalf of Bay of Plenty police.
Tributes have been paid to Detective Inspector Mark Loper at a farewell function. Photo / Kelly Makiha
