Cop who stared down gunman gets bravery award

Photo / File

A Kaikohe police officer who stared down a gunman on New Year's Day has been decorated for his courage.

Sergeant Robert Wirihana Rakete received a silver merit award from Commissioner Peter Marshall last week.

Commissioner Marshall, who called at Kaikohe to present the award as part of a tour of Northland, described the decoration as all the more remarkable because it was not Sergeant Rakete's first.

A few years earlier, he had received a bronze merit award for saving someone's life.

According to the award citation, police were called to a Kaikohe street on January 1 when a man was seen with a firearm.

As Sergeant Rakete arrived at the spot, where the man was last seen, he heard gunfire. When he saw the man he, with help from another officer, stepped out of cover and challenged him.

After three more challenges, the gunman finally put down his weapon, was tackled to the ground and arrested.

Media reports at the time said the man was roaming Tawa St with a gun.

The Whangarei-based Armed Offenders Squad was mobilised, but, because the man was "waving a firearm around" on a suburban street, Kaikohe police had decided they could not wait for it to arrive. The man had been challenged and arrested at gunpoint.

"He didn't come quietly," a police spokesman said.

Commissioner Marshall also presented several other awards, including 14-year long service and good conduct medals, which he described as "royal-warranted" and approved at the highest level.

"It's not just a tick in the box. These medals have to be earned," he said.