Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Good afternoon.
It is a pleasure to be here for Bruce’s farewell and have the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the Hutt City Council.
We, of course, are very sad that Bruce is leaving.
I’m not sure our resident crims feel the same way, although I’m sure their happiness will be short-lived.
However, we congratulate him on his new appointment and wish him well as he enters a new phase in his career.
I have enjoyed working with Bruce. In our regular meetings, I found him to be extremely professional and straight up in his reporting of criminal activity in the City.
While sometimes what he told me was disturbing, I always felt confident that in Bruce we had the right person to tackle the problems head-on.
That’s because having served eight years as area commander, he had the policing experience coupled with local knowledge. Both will be hard to replace.
A regular feature of our meetings was me saying to Bruce, “Bruce, we’ve got to do something about those boy racers”.
Like Graham Henry having people constantly giving him “advice” on who he should pick for the All Blacks, I imagine Bruce has people regularly harping on about boy racers and what to do with them.
Even so, he never seemed to mind and assured me the police were doing their best.
True to his word, the police in recent weeks have carried out a very successful crack down on boy racers for which I am very grateful.
Under Bruce’s watch, the police and Council have worked well together to make the City a safer, and therefore, better place to live.
He has himself chaired the Safer Community Action Network for two years and advised the Council on its Crime Prevention Action Plan.
His impact on the safety of the community cannot be underestimated.
I’m sure Bruce won’t mind if I take this opportunity to thank those of you serving in the Lower Hutt police for the good work that you do keeping the City and its residents safe.
You rarely get the credit you deserve and that is a shame.
If Bruce is typical of the leadership in the New Zealand police, and I’m sure he is, then the future of the force is in very good hands.
Again, I want to thank Bruce for his service. He goes with mine, the Council’s and the City’s best wishes.
Bruce, they say every cloud has a silver lining, and I guess from our perspective now that you’re a bit closer to where the decisions are made you might be able to put in a good word for more police to be sent our way, rather than up north!
In the meantime, it is now my pleasure to present a small token of our appreciation…