New Zealand Patches
The New Zealand Police
Organised into six regions, the service is administered from National Headquarters in Wellington. The rank of each region commander is fixed at assistant commissioner.
The permanent head is the Commissioner of Police and he is responsible for the efficient maintenance of law and order. The police also performs or undertakes certain other functions, some on behalf of other government departments.
Within regions the incidence of crime, geographical and population consideration dictate the type of organisation adopted. The organisation is further broken down into 30 Districts who further control the policing activities on a District level.
The mission statement of the New Zealand Police is: Protecting life and property, Preventing crime, Maintaining the peace and detecting offenders by assisting and working together with the Community and other agencies, and Maintaining a Police organisation capable of providing high quality of service.
Situated midway between the Equator and the South Pole, 1,500 km south east of Australia, New Zealand is a fully independent State within the Commonwealth. The country is divided into two main islands. North and South Islands, and is about the same size as Britain or Japan. The population is just over 3 million, most of whom live in the eight main urban areas of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Napier-Hastings, Palmerston North, Dunedin and Invercargill and eight secondary cities.
The Police Patch.
The first quarter of the shield depicts four stars as representative of the Southern Cross, then three ships symbolising the importance of New Zealand's sea trade; in the second quarter is a fleece representing the farming industry. The wheat sheaf in the third quarter represents the agricultural industry, whilst the crossed hammers in the fourth quarter represent the mining industry.
The supporters on either side of the shield consist of a Maori Chieftain holding a taiaha (a Maori war weapon) and a European woman holding the New Zealand Ensign.
Surmounting the Arms is the St. Edward's Crown which was used in the Coronation ceremony of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The crown symbolises the fact that Her Majesty is Queen of New Zealand under the New Zealand Royal Titles Act 1953.
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