It is the quality of the people who work for an organisation that makes the biggest difference when it comes to overall performance. Both common sense and libraries of research tell us that is the case. When you have a bunch of quality people working together as a supportive, close-knitteam, great results are going to follow.
One of the rewarding things about working for the New Zealand Police is people join our organisation because they are passionate about making a difference for their community. It is that desire that drives police officers to work hard.
Take the Rotorua dog section. The newest members of the section, Constable Regan Mauheni and his dog Thor, won the Erridge Cup. This is a national award presented to the highest performing dog team in their first year of operational service. Two years ago the same award was won by another Rotorua dog handler, Constable Colin Robson. If you go a few years further back you will find the leader of the dog section, Sergeant Jason Owen, won the Erridge Cup when he was a new dog handler. Join the dots.
If you're wondering what a high performing dog team looks like, consider Regan's stats for his last night shift. In one week he made 16 arrests clearing 25 offences. Thirteen of the arrests were patrol catches, which means on that particular week, Regan had more success following his own nose than Thor's! However, on the occasions they were required to deploy in a tracking role, Thor performed really well. His best catch of the week was tracking and apprehending the suspects for a kidnapping. Regan also issued 15 infringement notices for high risk driving offences. Not bad for a week's work.
Regan, Colin and Jason are not alone. There are a bunch of people working for the Rotorua police who get some fantastic results and do amazing things, but they are pretty humble about it. The sort of people EF Halifax was talking about when he said "True merit is like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes".
