"It's the same mission, just a different uniform."
Rayner will begin as a constable in Whanganui in October.
"When you join the police you get three options on where you would like to go, but I just picked Whanganui," he said.
"I left the other two [options] blank and just waited till there was a vacancy here."
Becoming an officer had always been in the back of his mind since his high school days.
"Life kind of gets away from you. You blink and a decade has gone by," Rayner said.
"I thought that if I didn't do it now, I never would."
The award he received was for demonstrating self-leadership and the leadership of others throughout the 16-week programme.
Rayner said the training was harder than he expected.
"I completely underestimated how hard college was going to be.
"That's emotionally and physically, and being away from your family is tough as well.
"It makes getting to graduation that much better."
Rayner joins three other graduates in the Central District area.
"I've got my eye on a couple of specialist roles in the future but for the moment I'll just be frontline policing," Rayner said.
"When someone calls 111, it will be my job to respond."
His mission had always been to help whānau within his community choose their own destiny, Rayner said.
"A barrier for many whānau to achieve this is family harm and the drivers of crime.
"With me wearing a blue uniform and helping remove some of these barriers I will feel like I've helped some people move towards being able to realise their tino rangatiratanga."
