Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Top Whanganui cops take knowledge of community liaison to Wellington

Laurel Stowell
By Laurel Stowell
Reporter·Whanganui Chronicle·
28 Jan, 2022 04:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Whanganui/Ruapehu Police Area Commander Nigel Allan has taken his knowledge about responding to family violence to Wellington. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui/Ruapehu Police Area Commander Nigel Allan has taken his knowledge about responding to family violence to Wellington. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui policing has changed since police started listening to the community - and the results are impressive, Whanganui/Ruapehu Area Commander Nigel Allan says.

He's been seconded to Wellington until June 30, to be the engagement and communications lead for the integrated community response thread in the Justice Ministry's joint venture business unit about family and sexual violence.

The "integrated community response" he's championing is relationship-based, community-led and government-supported. The idea is to strengthen and heal families, preventing violence before it starts.

Whanganui Police have taken the approach on board and it aligns with Government's Te Aorerekura National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence, launched before Christmas.

Allan has only been in Wellington a few days, and so far has been reading related information and talking to people.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He expects to find out how police handle family and sexual violence in other centres, and bring new ideas back to Whanganui.

He's been chosen for the job because Whanganui was an early adopter of Whangaia Ngā Pā Harakeke, an initiative in which police partner with local iwi and communities to reduce family harm.

There have been many aspects to this, Allan said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In a separate but related initiative, Ash Patea and others have been growing police knowledge of te ao Māori and Whanganui history.

"It's been compelling, for some. It's awesome," Allan said.

Discover more

New Zealand

Ex-All Black Glen Osborne returns to roots as community constable

17 Dec 04:00 PM

Expo aims to help prevent family harm

30 Apr 05:00 PM

'Elephant in the room' named in New Year Honours

30 Dec 04:00 PM

Removing barriers to wellbeing for Whanganui whānau

22 Sep 05:00 PM

The 30 extra staff across Whanganui/Ruapehu since 2017 have also given police more time to spend with whānau, establishing trust and understanding.

What they are doing is not a new programme or service, Allan said. It could be just following up on a violent episode and strengthening connections with those involved.

Previously police had been attending violent incidents, without the ability to build
connections.

There's been a recognition by police and the wider community that change will only happen when police have the time, space and capacity to make those person-to-person connections, Allan said.

In late 2018 a large group of stakeholders mulled over what would help the Whanganui situation.

Partnering with Tūpoho, Whanganui Police set up FLOW - a "long and deep story" in itself, Allan said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The FLOW team is 13 police, with Peter Porter and Varnia Allan as kaihautū (leaders). It's based in a former education department building in Victoria Ave - because it's about more than police and the police station.

Families/whānau are now going to FLOW when they are under stress and before there is a violent crisis. They get consultation and support, and can decide what else to do.

"We are not counsellors," Allan said.

"It's not for the police or anyone to tell families what they need."

He's quite certain these changes are making a difference, but unwilling to use the number of episodes to prove that.

Nationally the rate at which family harm is reported is low, he said, and police can expect more to be reported as families gain more trust in police.

Police service delivery is growing, and there's more that can be done.

"There's still a massive opportunity to keep building," he said.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

'S*** happens': Injured motorcyclist's gracious response to being hit by car

11 Jul 08:00 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Why Ruapehu voted against bigger water model

11 Jul 05:02 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

'S*** happens': Injured motorcyclist's gracious response to being hit by car

'S*** happens': Injured motorcyclist's gracious response to being hit by car

11 Jul 08:00 AM

A moment’s inattention by a driver at an intersection led to severe consequences.

Why Ruapehu voted against bigger water model

Why Ruapehu voted against bigger water model

11 Jul 05:02 AM
Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM
Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

10 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP