A dawn unveiling ceremony will reveal the latest in a series of cultural carvings at The Royal New Zealand Police College on Thursday 12 April 2007 from 5:45am.
"The unveiling of the Pacific pou (carving) will signify and recognise the contributions of Pacific staff in Police, and of Pacific communities to policing particularly in the last 30 years," says Inspector Lui Alofa, Strategic Advisor in the Mâori Pacific Ethnic Services (MPES) Group at Police National Headquarters.
The carving is the latest addition to the Te Rito Project (meaning new growth). The project that started in 2004 with 10 carvings contributed by Ngati Toa Rangatira to create a place that would become the 'cultural heart' of the College.
The following year 12 poupou were presented to the College by each of the 12 Police districts around New Zealand. Police staff in each area worked with local iwi to create poupou that represented significant aspects of the district and interpreted the Police and Mâori relationship through the eyes of the iwi.
In November 2006 collaboration between the College, MPES and the Human Rights Commission lead to a carving representing the diversity of ethnicities in New Zealand society being added.
"This project is an integral part of the physical and spiritual environment of police education," says National Manager: Training and Professional Development, Superintendent Alistair (Olly) Beckett. "It immerses our new recruits, and more seasoned practitioners returning to the College, in the immense and colourful diversity that is the Pacific and other cultures."
Tomorrow's dawn ceremony will be attended by the Police Commissioner, Mana MP Winnie Laban, St Catherine's College Choir, representatives from the Pacific community and Police staff.
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For more information please contact:
Katrina Graham, Communications Adviser
Tel: (04) 238 3572