Inspector Marty Gray (right), with police assistant commissioner Mike Johnson, was welcomed into his new role as Manawatū area commander at Kohuturoa Marae. Photo / New Zealand Police
Inspector Marty Gray (right), with police assistant commissioner Mike Johnson, was welcomed into his new role as Manawatū area commander at Kohuturoa Marae. Photo / New Zealand Police
Inspector Matenga “Marty” Gray has swapped his long-serving policing career in the Deep South to take on a new challenge as Manawatū’s new area commander.
Gray was officially welcomed into his new role at Kohuturoa Marae near Levin on February 10.
He takes over from Ross Grantham, who recently retiredafter nearly 48 years in the police.
Gray has held multiple policing roles in the Southern District for 34 years and, most recently, spent seven years as the Otago Coastal area commander.
Born in Mangakino in the Taupō District, Gray moved to Haast on the South Island’s West Coast at a young age for his father’s job in the mills.
“Like most police, you feel like you want to look after people, after the most vulnerable in our community – I felt like I could add value in that space,” Gray said.
It was a privilege to be appointed as the new area commander for Manawatū after a “humbling” pōwhiri service.
He said being an area commander for any district was fulfilling.
“You’ve got the ability to move between strategic and operational policing and you are responsible for making decisions to ensure our communities are well looked after and safe,” he said.
“It is exciting for me to work in another district and the added bonus of everything is that I have a son, family and mokopuna in Whanganui – they were a big pull for me.
“My wife and I are very happy with the move so we’re feeling good.”
Gray has another son, Regan Gray, who is the senior sergeant for family harm in Dunedin.
“I’ve traded that son in for the younger one,” Gray said.
Kohuturoa Marae near Levin hosted the pōwhiri on February 10. Photo / New Zealand Police
The “beauties of the job” which had kept him engaged for 34 years included the ability to move within the organisation, opportunities for improvement and the people he worked with.
“You look to improve and develop all of the time and be better at things than you already are,” Gray said.
“I remain fully engaged, energised and committed to it.
“It keeps you motivated. I’ve never felt the need to look anywhere else for the things that are important to me because they are all here.”
Gray’s main focus was to get to know the community and build purposeful relationships.
“The key to effective policing is through relationships with key partners, such as iwi Māori, because policing requires a whole community response.
“It’s about forming those new relationships with purpose, and not simply because it is something you need to do.
“The intimacy is important to build the trust and confidence with one another and that means not turning up only in crisis; turn up as a friend, turn up to say hello, turn up before we want something.”
