Senior Sergeant Mel Humphries has come full circle in Police, ending where she started some 19 years ago.
Mel is calling time on her Police career and as she looks back – from starting as a recruit at the Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC) to ending as a practice leader there – it’s clear she’s given her all to every role she held and as a result has many career highlights.
Summed up, those highlights have involved forming deep connections with communities, helping to improve Police’s family harm response and driving more recruitment of women and Māori. And then there’s the more personal highlight – meeting someone special on an East Timor deployment who is now her husband.
Mel’s story of her journey into Police has already been recounted in the book Stand by Me, written about the history of Te Whakaruruhau Waikato Women’s Refuge.
It tells of her experience as a victim of family harm who sought help from Police and Te Whakaruruhau, and how they helped Mel and her sons, empowered her, and enabled her to follow her dream to be a police officer.
“My decision to join Police was to be a role model for my sons, and I know I have achieved that. They are good men and one of them even followed me into Police for a while as a police officer for six years.”
Mel affiliates to Ngati Kahungunu on her father’s side, Tuwharetoa through her mother, and comes from Hawke’s Bay. As part of her full circle, she’s heading back there, to a family base where she will consider what’s next – “refreshing my purpose and possibly working with my iwi”.
Mel joined Police in Wing 209 in 2003 and has been delighted that some of the people who were there at the start of her Police journey are there at this moment too.
“Alan Richards was my recruit instructor, Bernie Boyle-Tiatia was my physical training instructor, Les Jardine who recently retired was my driver training instructor, and Nevan Stevenson my firearms instructor.
“It was great to be back with those familiar faces who really influenced my career at the beginning and are still playing a huge role in my policing life as I depart.”
After her graduation, Mel worked in Hamilton and soon discovered she had a real passion for working with the community. She developed a close relationship with the Kirikiriroa Māori Wardens, work which took her into an iwi liaison officer (ILO) role.
“That role was amazing, being able to look for solutions for Māori and build those relationships between Police and Māori. It gave me the opportunity to work with Te Whakaruruhau Waikato Women’s Refuge, which was definitely a career highlight.
“When I was at the refuge as a victim, there wasn’t a lot of faith in Police, so to go back there as a police officer and contribute to building a better relationship and partnership was definitely something that I was really proud of.”
At that time Mel took up some deployment opportunities – to the Family Liaison Team for the Pike River Mine disaster, to Christchurch in the aftermath of the earthquakes, and to East Timor as part of the Tuituia contingent, working as a United Nations police officer.
“East Timor was life-changing for me, because that’s where I met my current husband – he was serving with the New Zealand Army as an advisor. So I can thank Police for my marriage!”
Mel having fun at work. Here she is with an East Timor tamariki.
Mel then felt the pull to return home to Hawke’s Bay and work with her own iwi. A role as Hawke’s Bay’s Pouwhakataki followed along with a promotion to sergeant.
In that role Mel completed a piece of work she’s particularly proud of – helping with the refurbishment of the Hawke’s Bay Hospital mortuary.
“I worked alongside then District Commander Tania Kura, and got the iwi involved. It was all about making the mortuary a more comfortable space for whānau who are paying their respects to loved ones who have passed away suddenly, and for the Police staff who have to work there.
“As an ILO you spend a lot of time in that mortuary space with our whānau so it was important to do it right, and having the right environment makes our job easier.”
The fact the project was nominated for a District Health Board award for collaboration with the community was largely due to Mel’s efforts.
Working in Wairoa as a Public Safety Team Sergeant, then in Waipukurau as the Officer in Charge, came next. Mel continued to hone her skills building relationships with the community and collaborating with them on solutions.
“Working in Wairoa was really challenging, but an amazing place to work. P, family harm and gangs were entrenched there, but the police station was a family environment and Wairoa was a community that was invested in finding solutions. It was humbling to be welcomed and made part of the community.
“I loved the Waipukurau community too; a small community that wrapped their arms around me.”
In 2018 at Wairoa Police Station, Mel - then known as Sergeant Mel Leonard - received her 14-year long service and good conduct award from Inspector Sam Aberahama.
Respect for the members of the community was one of the keys to success, as was being herself.
“You can’t be anonymous in a small community. I found that if you treat people with respect, then regardless of whether you are in or out of the uniform they treat you with respect back.
“You’ve got to be firm but fair, and if people know you are firm and fair they respect who you are. In those small communities you have to have integrity, you have to do what you say you’ll do, because they hold you accountable to that – you can’t hide.
“The person you are in the uniform has to be the person you are out of the uniform too.
“When I look back, being a police officer never defined me; but it was always an opportunity to make a difference.”
The next move was into Eastern District recruitment, another role Mel loved and where she could focus on her passion for recruiting women and Māori. Her recruitment success in Wairoa and Waipukurau was covered in a Ten One story, where the recruits she’d mentored and guided spoke of Mel’s awhi to them and her ability to motivate them and boost their confidence.
It was a natural progression, then, to take it a step further by going back to the RNZPC, this time as a practice leader supporting the recruit instructors – and proudly watching over some of ‘her’ Eastern District recruits.
“To see them start their journey has been amazing. I love their positive energy - they’re just like sponges, and so willing to get out there.”
Mel led Wing 347 and their patron Bishop Kito to their pōwhiri in July 2021.
In her practice leader role Mel has been able to contribute to the family harm training space.
“I’m passionate about how we teach our recruits about family harm. To see what is delivered through Jude Simpson’s training, the recruits go out there with a whole different mindset and eyes wide open.
“That’s another part of the full circle for me: coming from the refuge, changing my life, watching the difference it makes here with the new officers going out there. It’s huge.”
Mel says she’s leaving while she still has her 'spark', and working on Operation Oversight (the response to recent protests in Wellington and elsewhere) has made her contemplate what she could be doing for her iwi.
“Many of the protestors were Māori and I realised there are a lot of disaffected people out there who we haven’t made inroads with yet.”
Closing the loop on the policing part of her life, Mel says she wants to finish by passing on three things she has learnt over her career, especially while working in places like East Timor and Wairoa:
“True friendship has no boundaries, be they race, religion, or age… Those that have everything always want more, and those with nothing will give you everything… A smile costs you nothing, but can mean so much to those you share yours with.”