When he’s not protecting users of Dunedin Airport, Senior Constable Brice Horner is working to protect even busier fliers – New Zealand’s honey bees.
For many years Brice has played a leading role in training beekeepers. More recently he joined the fight against American foulbrood (AFB), a bacterial infection which kills bee larvae and destroys hives.
This year has seen the launch of a smartphone app he designed for beekeepers, which lets them compare a hive they suspect is infected with AFB with photos of actual AFB infection, then steps them through to a diagnosis.
The stakes are high – though overseas AFB is treated with antibiotics, in New Zealand stricken hives are burned to kill the infection without putting pharmaceuticals into the system. As a result only one or two of our hives per 1000 are infected.
Brice, who has around 60 hives, started beekeeping around 15 years ago as a balance to his then role as a crash investigator. He became involved with education, and teaches level-three NZQA in Otago and Southland. More recently he started voluntary work with the AFB Management Agency and identified a gap in training around disease control, particularly with a huge increase in numbers of beekeepers and hives.
“During a meeting I suggested they consider an app to assist field diagnosis. They said ‘Go ahead and do it’,” he says. “I had no experience of apps but I had an idea of what I wanted an app to do. I came up with the concept of some sort of visual guide to symptoms.
“I talked to a number of scientists and others to get things right. There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
The app was trialled in Southland this year and is available for Apple and Android phones.
As well as teaching in Dunedin and Invercargill, Brice travels nationwide for training on AFB control. “I’ve used an awful lot of leave but I’ve been well supported by Police. I think it’s worked out well all round.”
This story features in the August issue of Ten One, the magazine of New Zealand Police. Click here for more news and features.