Police chief Smith packs his bags for London stint

Kelly Makiha | 26th July 2010

Bay of Plenty police leader, Superintendent Gary Smith, has left the region's top job to take up a position with the New Zealand Police in London.

Mr Smith hasn't worked in Rotorua since December last year - not long after an employment row with police hierarchy in Wellington.

He had been the area commander in charge of Bay of Plenty police since 2001 and oversaw staff in Rotorua, Taupo, Eastern Bay of Plenty, Tauranga/Western Bay and the Bay's headquarters in Rotorua.

In August last year it was revealed Mr Smith took a personal grievance case against his bosses in Wellington over a sudden independent review of the way he went about his job.

Mr Smith told The Daily Post yesterday in a statement that his family had enjoyed living in Rotorua but the new role in London was fulfilling a long held desire to work and live in Europe for a period.

"I am extremely grateful that I am able to do this with police."

Mr Smith applied for the police liaison officer role in London, a two-year job which could be extended to four years. Based at New Zealand House, he will liaise with United Kingdom and European police forces and agencies, keep an eye on trends in the policing world and help facilitate operational help if required.

Bay of Plenty police district communications manager Jacky James said Mr Smith was an expert on crime and crash reduction and had spent the past eight months providing advice in Counties Manukau as part of its "300 growth project".

It will take several months for a replacement to be appointed. Inspector Mark Harrison is filling the acting district commander's role.

Mr Smith brought a new style of policing to the Bay of Plenty. His philosophies, known as crime science, involved predicting where and when crime was to occur and deploying staff there to combat it.

In 2003, he announced he wanted to lead the district to a 50 per cent crime reduction by 2008. Although that wasn't achieved, big reductions had been seen across the district. His contract was renewed in 2007, leaving him in his position at least until 2012.

The Employment Relations Authority heard last year Mr Smith objected to having an independent review of his "management practices and processes".

Mr Smith told the authority the review was "simply announced" in April last year. He said he told his supervisor, Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope, the motives for the review had not been explained to him, nor did he know why the review had been directed at him and not at any other officer of his seniority.

The matter was resolved at mediation, the details of which were confidential. Mr Smith refused to say last year whether he was given a payout as part of the resolution.

Mr Smith said yesterday the Bay was a challenging and rewarding place to work.

He said many staff worked hard to achieve excellent results, and although there was still more to do, there had been some very good progress.

He said he personally had taken positives from an improved relationship between Maori and the police, which he said "I think has made me a better person".

Meanwhile, Rotary Club of Rotorua Sunrise president Noel Lamberton said the club accepted Mr Smith's resignation. "He will be back in September to pack up his family and his house and to say his goodbyes."

Mr Lamberton said Mr Smith, a past president of the club, would be "absolutely missed" because of his "sense of humour, input, the contributions he made to Rotary and all-round good guyness".

"We have told him we will leave his badge in the box for when he comes back in four years."