Kāpiti’s Police Chief Alasdair Macmillan was among the honourees at the recent 35th anniversary of the 20th Police Cadet Wing.
The ceremony, held at the Royal New Zealand Police College, saw Snr Sgt Macmillan and 13 colleagues, who between them have given 490 years of service to the New Zealand Police, presented with their 35-year service clasp by the current Governor-General, His Excellency the Right Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO.
The recipients, now all aged in their 50s, were recruited straight out of school at 17 or 18. Over their expansive careers they have achieved ranks from Senior Constable to Inspector.
The officers have worked on some high profile local and international incidents during their 35 years of service. Many of these events are ones that have shaped our nation, including the occupation of Bastion Point (1978), the Mt Erebus disaster (1979), the Springbok tour (1981), the Trades Hall (1984) and Rainbow Warrior (1985) bombings, and most recently the Pike River mining disaster (2010).
On the world stage some have supported such tragic events as the Bali bombings (2002) and the Thailand (2005) and Samoan (2009) tsunamis. They have also served in the international hot spots of Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.
Snr Sgt Macmillan has worked on many high profile cases including the Rainbow Warrior case where he was a diver for seven months.
He has been the head of Kāpiti’s police unit since 2005.
