Volunteer day celebrated

Friday 5 December was International Volunteer Day – Police employees were encouraged to make a cup of tea for the police volunteers at the station and say thank you.

International Volunteer Day was instigated by the United Nations in 1985 to recognise the contribution volunteers make to their communities.

The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector says more than one million New Zealanders volunteer, both informally within their communities and through the 97,000 plus organisations that make up the community and voluntary sector.

NZ Police is the grateful recipient of the time and assistance of over 1,000 volunteers working at or from police premises around the country.

These community minded people give freely of their time and skills to assist the New Zealand Police to make their community safer.

They help out in numerous ways; as office attendants, monitoring crime prevention cameras, caring for police pups, supporting Blue Light events or acting as a mentor to a young person on a Youth Development Programme.

Many other people assist police through membership of community groups including Neighbourhood Support, search and rescue organisations, Community Patrols of New Zealand, D.A.R.E., Maori Wardens, Victim Support and as Police chaplains.