Detective Inspector David De Lange has called time on his 40-year career with the police. Photo / Doug Laing
Hawke’s Bay’s top detective is retiring, with three of his biggest arrests coming in the last 10 days of a career spanning 40 years.
Detective Inspector David De Lange, who in 1985 turned his back on six years as a freezing works meat inspector to join the police, has served his entire career in Hawke’s Bay.
He signed off for the last time on Friday, the same day three teenagers were appearing in court after their recent arrests relating to the death of 15-year-old Kaea Karauria four months ago. Two have pleaded not guilty.
A year ago, he also oversaw the arrest of a man (now sentenced) for the murder of teenager Ariki Rigby, who was found in a burnt-out car near Havelock North on September 5, 2022.
De Lange said when it comes to such crimes, police do not talk about “highlights” in their careers, just the general thread of, on behalf of devastated victim families, being able to see the offenders made accountable for their actions.
“As a detective, you’re driven to have some accountability from those who have committed the offences,” he said.
“It is satisfying [to make the arrests].
“There are often people who go out of their way to not be accountable. It’s good to get a result.”
He was “sort of shoulder-tapped” to become a detective in the first couple of years with the police, loves the job, and said he’d do it all again.
“As a detective you have the time and resources to really look into it, but those [uniformed staff] on section are going from job to job, with a queue of jobs waiting for them,” he said.
In the two most recent big cases there was the extra pressure of outraged communities demanding arrests, as nowadays police may have to sift through “dozens” of names of potential suspects amid the distraction of social media users creating their own suspect lists.
That reflected one of two big societal changes police have had to deal with in recent times.
One was the advance of social media, from when Maxwell Smart’s shoe-phone was something of comedy and mirth to being a helpful tool and a major distraction, and the second was the presence of methamphetamine in crime, usually violent and/or involving big money, but barely present 25 years ago.
Once, De Lange noted, a criminal was a “professional burglar”.
He had for a while been based in Flaxmere and had just moved to Napier when former workmate Constable Glenn McKibbin was killed in a late Sunday morning shooting in the suburb on April 21, 1996.
A nine-week manhunt followed before killer Terence Thompson was found and shot dead in an apparent confrontation with police in an orchard near Havelock North.
De Lange had graduated to the role of Detective Senior Sergeant in charge of Hawke’s Bay CIB when three fellow long-serving staff were shot while executing a search warrant for cannabis in Napier on May 7, 2009, resulting in the death of Senior Constable Len Snee.
Gunman Jan Molenaar, who had an arsenal of weapons in his home, apparently took his own life during the two-day siege that followed.
De Lange, who went to Hastings Boys’ High School, hasn’t always been best known just as a senior detective and in answer to one last question, and with some relief, said he was never confused with a Prime Minister with a near-identical name.
His ongoing love of rugby, including the comradeship of the club, included 40 games, mainly at lock, for the Hawke’s Bay Magpies from 1982-1987 and four for New Zealand Combined Services.
He retired from the game to concentrate more on his police career and family. He has now retired from policing to devote more time to the next generation, currently his and wife Ali’s two young grandchildren.
He’s also been a long-serving member of school boards at Ebbett Park, Heretaunga Intermediate and Karamu High schools.
His retirement from the Karamu role at the end of the election cycle coincides with his decision to retire from the police.
Three years ago, he was recognised with the MNZM in the Queen’s Birthday honours for services to police and the community.
It didn’t mean he met the Queen, although he did when he was an award recipient as second in his wing graduation at police college near Porirua, on the centenary of the New Zealand Police.
The MNZM was “a real honour,” he said. “But it reflects on the good people I’ve worked with.”
Doug Laing is a Senior reporter with more than 50 years’ experience, covering most aspects of news, including sports, including more than 40 years in Hawke’s Bay.