Big turnout to police open day

Police dog Murk was in charge of drawing the winners in the fluffy toy police dog promotion at the police open day on Sunday. While he got a wee bit excited about the game and emptied the entries out of the bucket they were in, he made short work of picking up the winners. It was smiles all round for the eight winners. Pictures supplied

CLOSE to 600 people took the chance to tour the central Gisborne police station during the open day on Sunday and police were rapt with the level of support shown for it by the community.

The four-hour open day comprised a wide range of interactive displays and demonstrations that showcased the variety of police work.

“The feedback we received from the public who attended was incredibly positive,” said Senior Sergeant Lincoln Sycamore.

“Our visitors particularly enjoyed our interactive displays.

“The two police dogs we had for them to meet were very popular, as always.

“Our forensic display and armed offenders squad members got a lot of attention too.

“We had a police car set up for the children to play in, and they had the siren going for just about the whole four hours,” he said.

“The kids had a good old play in it and they got the loud speakers going too.”

Senior Sergeant Sycamore said there was a lot of interest shown in the police recruitment aspect of the open day.

“We got a good response to it, and that’s positive, given our focus on attracting more Tairawhiti people into our ranks across diverse nationalities of both genders.

“Overall, it was a very successful day, and a great opportunity for the public to meet our staff, who really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the public.

“It was great for us to continue to build and develop our relationships with the community.”

Police dog Murk had the job of picking the winners in the raffle police were running, and he also had to select the eight winners of the special fluffy toy police dogs on offer.

“Four-year-old Murk thought it was a great game and really got into it.

“You couldn’t ask for better police supervision,” Senior Sergeant Sycamore said.

“Most of the toys went to youngsters and their delight was totally obvious.

“There were smiles all around.”