Colourful leader bow-wows out

It was the dogs that first attracted her to Police, and now animals are taking her out.

Inspector Tracy Phillips has left Police for the SPCA after a colourful and varied career since joining in 1990 with dreams of “being a dog handler chasing bad guys”.

“That’s what brought me in,” she says before launching into praise for four-legged friends who run to the door to welcome you. “No questions, no cross-examination. They are just pleased to see you.” But back then being a member of a Delta unit wasn’t seen as a job for women, and her ambition had to be put on hold.

She also arrived fresh from a bronze medal at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games. That was for the high jump – a skill which she concedes had its uses once she’d made dog handler in the mid-nineties and found herself pursuing offenders from backyard to backyard, running fast and leaping fences on the way.

“It’s OK until you get clotheslined,” she laughs. “Clotheslines were my nemesis.”

Owning a horse was a dream for even longer – ever since childhood. Not the usual pony, she notes, it had to be a horse. That came true at 32, and later led to introduction of a horse squad when she returned to hometown Whanganui.

She began organising mounted horse patrols in the 2000s, an effective approach to community engagement given that “nobody pats a Holden”, and continued to do so in later roles in Whangārei, where she was Area Commander, and Tāmaki Makaurau. There, suitably blinged up, Police horses became a feature of the Pride Parade.

Working with and for the Rainbow community is another passion. While Pride Parade is the most public expression of this, she says that’s all very well - but what about the other 364 days?

“I realised a few years ago that we just didn’t do this stuff very well,” she says.

Many conversations with groups working in the area – “humbling conversations with good honest people" - made it apparent there was little trust for Police, which translated into low reporting of crimes, especially assaults. So Tracy asked what would make a difference and then came up with a six-point workplan.

“We’re not there yet with trust and confidence”, Tracy says. “But we are making progress.” There are some simple things Police can do, she adds, like offering the option of a gender-diverse box on online forms, or using people’s preferred pronouns or names rather than their 'dead names'."

Commissioner Mike Bush singles out this element of Tracy’s work for particular praise. She has led in a number of roles, he notes, “but I have particularly valued her relentless dedication and efforts in relation to the Rainbow community both within Police and externally”.

Tracy also led introduction of the tactical communications training programme, and logistics for the repatriation of New Zealand deportees from Australia after the 2015 legislative changes there.

She singles out work on the Sale of Liquor Act review as a career highlight, working with a wide range of stakeholders and achieving a change which took 24,000 people a year out of the Courts.

The abiding memory is of presenting to then-Minister Judith Collins who immediately afterwards marched her down the corridors of power to convince then-Justice Minister Simon Power.

In another colourful – a word which crops up often when talking about her – contribution, Tracy organised painting the holding cells in the Counties Manukau hub. In a project involving students, teachers, artists and even another officer, nine custody suite cells were brightened up to provide a better environment for both detainees and the staff working there.

Last year she was recognised with an MNZM for services to Police and the community.

Tracy’s General Manager Mike Webb echoes many others when he reflects on the positive legacy - as well as the big gap - that Tracy will leave, given her achievements over a varied policing career.

“Tracy is a larger-than-life figure who has been a highly visible leader, and ambassador, for Police," Mike comments.

“She leaves having laid down a challenge for us to keep going with key initiatives, like the emphasis on tactical comms, and strong support and advocacy for the LGBTIQ+ community.”

In her last week on the job she was driving around the upper North Island doing performance reviews for the professional conduct team she leads in Northland, Tāmaki Makaurau and Waikatō. This week she starts as boss to a team of 77 SPCA inspectors.

“It’s a good brand doing good things for animals," says Tracy. "And the people there have joined for similar reasons as those who join Police – to make things better. I think it will be a good fit.”