Decade of volunteering

Charlie Moates and Jo Wyatt were celebrating 10 years of volunteering at Whangarei police. Photo / Tania Whyte

Partners-in-crime Jo Wyatt and Charlie Moates have been helping Whangarei police for 10 years.

The volunteers were first hired to check CCTV footage for Whangarei police a decade ago, after responding to a advertisement in the Northern Advocate.

Then when the $22 million Walton St station was built in 2009, they were the first volunteers to be trained and starting manning the front desk.

"Charlie and I are the old hands ... we were partners-in-crime," Mrs Wyatt told the Advocate.

"There were five or six of us, but the others have moved along since then."

Mrs Wyatt - a great-grandmother of seven who did not want to disclose her age - and 74-year-old Mr Moates are still there today, spending around 12 hours a week helping the public with queries from lost property to missing persons, vehicle theft to non-injury crashes, as well as some "unexpected curly ones", she said.

Front counter volunteers' duties are many and varied, but they include organising paperwork, connecting the right police staff with people, and acting as gatekeepers for visitors entering the station.

What Mrs Wyatt, who is now the overall volunteer co-ordinator, loved about the role was connecting with people.

"Never knowing what the public are going to bring in for us. It's Mr and Mrs Public and there's nothing more interesting than people."

She couldn't divulge the most interesting cases she's seen in the last 10 years, saying they are too unique, and therefore, identifiable.

And she couldn't pinpoint the worst part of the job either.

"We do it because we love doing it. You'll find the volunteers are all outgoing people. You have to have an air of being able to support someone when they come through that front door. You've got to have patience and be able to read people."

Mr Moates agreed that helping people was the best part of the job.

"Helping the general public. A lot of people come in and they are highly confused and you can help them."

He has continued to watch over the CCTV footage for the past ten years, as well as man the front desk, and he plans to keep doing it "until no longer physically and mentally capable".

-Whangarei Police Station is not currently looking for volunteers, but if people are interested on being put on a waiting list they should phone 09 430 4500.