UK Poilce Officer thinking of moving to new zealand

[skydiver]

Hi ,

My wife and i are both UK police officers . We have two young children adn are consdidering moving to New zealand . Does anybodyhave any tips or advice before we decide on the big move ?

[Karen]

I know they were crying out for police officers here not so long ago, particularly in the small rural towns. From memory they have just had a big police drive where job offers were made to UK police officers.

Whereabouts were you thinking of moving to, and have you visited NZ before?

[bluediamonddivecollege@ho]

Hoping you want to leave the UK because you dont fit into the stereo typicle neo nazi officer types that are becomeing more inherant in our sytem! miss our old beat bobbies!

[shimmy]

sorry just joined so I hope you are still checking in.

Did you have a location in mind? I know they were doing a big push to encourage uk police officers over here just a few months ago. We are really struggling to get quality folk through the training colleges here. There was a news piece a month or so ago saying it was terrible how we were accepting people with previous criminal convictions into training for the police but they werent managing to get any more 'suitable' candidates.

Auckland has more 'gang' related problems and drugs of course, christchurch where we are has more hassles with boy racers (they let 15 year olds drive here, insurance isnt compulsory and booze isnt too hard to get hold of so they get drunk and wrap themselves and their mates round power poles in their subaru imprezas). It is quite an alcohol fueled society so weekends there are punchups at all hours in the inner city.

NZ in general seems to have a bit of a problem with domestic violence too, often against kids.

If you are thinking of NZ be aware that our wages are not great compared to some other countries and the cost of living is similar to the uk. BUT we have beautiful countryside to spend your down time in and most folk here live within 20 minutes of the beach!

[johnm123456]

Originally Posted by skydiver

Hi ,

My wife and i are both UK police officers . We have two young children adn are consdidering moving to New zealand . Does anybodyhave any tips or advice before we decide on the big move ?

The wages here are abou 50% lower than in the UK, food is more expensive than in the UK, house prices are comparable to a degree. Your best bet would be to come here on a holiday and see for yourself.

[STGO]

Originally Posted by Karen

I know they were crying out for police officers here not so long ago, particularly in the small rural towns. From memory they have just had a big police drive where job offers were made to UK police officers.

We have seen this, quite a lot of my personal jobs last year were police going to OZ, not so many but a few going to NZ.

Hope you make the right decision, good luck.

[denisemca]

hi we moved out 8 months ago with two little girls, it was hard at first but the advatages out hee outway evr moving back. We love the lifestyle everything. For children it is a very safe enviroment. we researched for one year then just went for it, we had had enough information sitting in front of us and just decided to do it. would never dream of moving back, it is a beautifull country with the friendliest people. good luck i hope that you do take the chance there are no downsides to it at all.

[Sarah/Baz]

Thats useful stuff about the crime problems in NZ. We are going through the recruitment process for NZ Police from the UK and are trying to do research into crime problems but are not finding much on the internet ...Any ideas?