Where are they now? Three former top award winners update us on life after graduation.
Rebecca Hodge topped Wing 308 in 2017.
She’d had the idea of joining Police in the back of her mind for a couple of years, and had been seeing the law from a different angle.
“After being an office-bound lawyer making money for our wealthy offshore owner, I decided it was time to try something that challenged and motivated me.
“I’m so pleased I took a risk and made that decision.
“I couldn’t believe I had won the top award for our wing. I didn’t know there were awards when I started at college and certainly didn’t think I would be winning any.”
Rebecca is now Sergeant Hodge and has recently started as a prosecutor in Wellington District. She is enjoying the new challenge.
“As I’ve just started in my current role, my plan is to develop and grow my skills as a prosecutor and work my way up to doing trials.
“After that, I’m not sure – there are some different options for career progression in the prosecution space, so I’ll see what happens.”
With her academic background, she sees universities as a potential recruiting ground for Police.
“There are so many more options after you’ve done frontline, like Prosecutions, which could appeal to the law students. Plus, the starting salary as a police prosecutor is better than you’d get as a junior lawyer in a lot of firms, which is quite the plus!”
First in Wing Jasper Collier on graduation day, left, and with Assistant Commissioner Jill Rogers at the close of the Bay of Plenty Detective Development Course.
When Wing 327 graduated in 2019, Constable Jasper Collier won the Minister’s Award for First in Wing top student and the Firearms award – and his winning habit didn’t stop there.
After deploying to Waikato District, where his frontline experience included community and youth roles, Jasper now works as a detective constable in the Bay of Plenty.
“I joined Police because I can have several different careers and experiences within the one organisation,” he says.
“I’ve always been keen on making the most of the opportunities in front of me. After qualifying as a Youth Aid Officer, I was able to secure a transfer over to Tauranga.
“I then made the switch to investigations, which was always a long-term goal of mine. I am currently working in the Western Bay of Plenty CIB on the Adult Sexual Assault team.”
In April 2025, the first dedicated Bay of Plenty Detective Development Course added 10 newly trained investigators to the CIB.
Jasper was among them – and took out the top spot on the course.
He says he is glad to have gained a degree at university, travelled and worked abroad before joining Police.
“I thought it was important to be open to different opportunities, and to gain a wide variety of knowledge and experiences first.
“While college was hard work, at times both physically and mentally draining, finishing the recruit training and graduating was an incredibly proud moment.”
Constable Jessica Courtney - on graduation day, left, and making a difference, right - after helping find an elderly woman who went missing on Waiheke Island.
Policing wasn’t a lifelong ambition for Constable Jessica Courtney, who graduated top of Wing 349 in 2021.
“I didn’t fit into the ‘I’ve always wanted to join Police since I was a little girl’ category,” she says. “It wasn’t something I considered.”
After university, Jessica went into traffic engineering, working at the Auckland Transport Operations Centre (ATOC).
ATOC works closely with Police, locating incidents through CCTV, providing information to staff and following vehicles of interest. It rubbed off and she found a passion for policing.
“I kept getting told off for doing Police work. After being told ‘It’s not your job to do that’, I thought ‘I want it to be my job to do that’.”
She was shocked to win the top award after a very interrupted college experience, in common with many wings during COVID-19.
“When I won the award, I had about two minutes of joy before finding out I had to do a speech that evening. Public speaking isn’t my forte but I’m pleased to say it went really well and I felt privileged to address my colleagues.”
Jessica works in Motorways, based at Auckland Harbour Bridge. “It’s come full circle from my previous role at ATOC - now I’m on the other side of the radio.”
She is studying part-time at Auckland University for a Graduate Diploma in Geographic Information Science – something that can aid policing through enhanced technology to deal with fleeing drivers and stolen vehicles.
“I appreciate my sergeant accommodating my study when I need to attend lectures during my shifts and the organisation for providing study leave for it.
“The key to finding a job you love is to find something where you feel like every day is different and the work you do makes a difference – I get that in policing.”
Over to you...
👮 If you think you or someone you know has the right stuff for a career in Police, head to newcops.govt.nz to get the process under way.