Police target Ironmaori Half in Napier for recruits

Police iwi liaison officer Sgt Phil Rowden at the ready for Ironmaori, and the chance to recruit pospective new officers. Photo/supplied

Police will have an extra presence at Ironmaori Half in Napier this weekend, but not for the usual reasons the constabulary bolsters its numbers at big sports events.

A team of at least six will be looking for prospective recruits from an event where a common theme among more than 2000 competitors and their supporters is a desire to make change and improve health and wellbeing not only of themselves but also those around them.

As part of the two-day project the new Auckland-based "pirihimana car," with a Maori motif rearrangement of the blue and yellow decal common to the rest of the fleet will make its first trip to Hawke's Bay.

Police have had a similar connection to Ironmaori event in the past and Hawke's Bay area iwi liaison co-ordinator Sgt Phil Rowden said it was an event where police expected to find people who were interested in policing as a career.

"But at the same time, we don't want to be like car salesmen, we don't want to be intrusive," he said. "They are here to do Ironmaori, not become police officers."

He said the beauty of Ironmaori was that people could go into the event with "no expectations that they will be a world champion — just an expectation you'll do your best".

"It is a journey for many of them, and there's that beauty of seeing whanau supporting whanau, and even strangers, to help get them across that line."

As it turns out, the process in becoming a police officer may take about as much time as preparing for Ironmaori, starting this week with police staff on-hand to answer questions about the career on Friday afternoon and again throughout the day on Saturday.

After starting as a 20-year-old in 1996 it was two years before Rowden became a policeman, following a process which tests the resilience and determination to get into and stay in the career.

On Monday, a new police recruitment video was unveiled, sparking more than 300 inquiries about joining the police. Today a new poster campaign will be revealed.