NEW ROLE: Sergeant Lee Stringer had a disappointing first week in road policing. PHOTO/BEN FRASER 270314BF7
NEW ROLE: Sergeant Lee Stringer had a disappointing first week in road policing. PHOTO/BEN FRASER 270314BF7
No one expects their first day on a new job to be easy but taking charge of Rotorua's first fatal crash of the year was all in one police officer's stride.
Sergeant Lee Stringer took the lead of one of Rotorua police's road policing sections last Monday. Three hours laterAllen Anderson was killed on State Highway 30 in Rotorua's first road fatality of the year. Seven days later Michael Cambridge died in a crash on State Highway 5 at Golden Valley - also on Mr Stringer's shift.
"In terms of first day - and week - it's always disappointing to hear someone's been killed and the fallout from that for the families," he said.
"I've dealt with many serious crashes and fatal incidents unfortunately; to have this on my first day was one of those unfortunate things. We're on the roads 24/7 and we never know what's going to happen in the next hour."
The crash analysis data for both crashes is now being examined to determine what led to the road deaths.
As section leader it was Mr Stringer's responsibility to manage the scenes, including making sure no forensic evidence was contaminated.
"When you arrive at a crash site of that nature, where it's up to 400m long and there are already 20 people at the scene, from a supervisor and evidence gathering perspective there are things that need to get done. On the way there I'm formulating a plan of what we need to do and when you get to a scene all that professional stuff comes into play.
"It's such a big job, when you get to a crash like that there are a lot of important things that need to take place simultaneously for the scene to be forensically locked down. The team I'm working with are very experienced in road policing and I'm fortunate to have such a good team."
Mr Stringer has been in the New Zealand Police for nine years. He was in the police in the UK before moving to Tauranga. He has been at Rotorua police for the past 18 months.
On Wednesday his section attended another crash, this time involving an elderly woman whose car rolled on State Highway 36.
"Had she not been wearing her seatbelt it could have turned out a lot worse. She wasn't going fast and she wasn't expecting to crash but she's managed to roll her car three times. No one expects to crash but wearing your seatbelt could be the difference between life and death."
