Edna Pearce was one of the first ten women to begin police training on June 3rd, 1941. The recruits were selected by the Police Commissioner Denis Cummings. They needed to have ‘superior education’, common sense, know shorthand and be able to type. They also had to be single or widowed and over the age of 25. Edna, a kindergarten teacher and keen gymnast met the criteria perfectly.

After finishing her training Edna was posted to Auckland and attached to the detective branch. In the early days of working there she was confined to working on cases involving women and children. Like the rest of her intake, she wasn't issued with a uniform but was expected to wear smart civilian dress complete with hat, gloves and handbag. In November of her first year Edna was the first policewomen to make an arrest.

A highlight of her career was being seconded to the Department of Internal Affairs to take charge of an internment camp for Japanese women and children at Pokeno, in the Waikato. The internees were families of traders operating in the Pacific Islands. Her duties included teaching correspondence school, arranging medical treatment, ensuring adequate supplies of food and censoring correspondence.

In August 1943 an attempt was made to transfer the internees to Australia by a Liberator aircraft. It crashed in the Mangere swamp killing three women and four children. Edna was called upon to identify the dead and the hospitalised survivors who were eventually returned to her care. Later that year she accompanied the group to Australia on the protected ship MV Wahine. Some of the Japanese women continued to correspond with her as they waited out the war in Australia. Their letters show how much they appreciated her care while interned in New Zealand.

In 1944 Constable Pearce returned to her duties in Auckland. When policewomen went into uniform in December 1952, she was given the collar number “1”. In 1954 she went to Hamilton as its first policewoman and remained there until she retired at 60 after completing 25 years’ service.

Superintendent Sandra Manderson decided when she was six that she wanted to join the New Zealand Police, because she wanted to work in and for the community.

She joined the New Zealand Police in 1987. During her career with the Police, she has held a range of positions including Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB), frontline and operational appointments. In 1993 she was awarded a Queen Services Medal for services to the community.

Sandra was the first female officer to be promoted to superintendent. After her promotion she became National Manager of Organisational Performance based at Police National Headquarters, which involved evaluating the police performance in the organisation. She became the first female to be appointed district commander, becoming Canterbury’s District Commander in 2002 a job she enjoyed, working with great staff, government departments, local councils and the community.

She has also achieved other firsts in her career: she was the first director of the Crime Prevention Unit in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Police’s first National Manager of Organisational Performance and the first female police attaché to the Americas, based in Washington DC.

When Prince Charles visited New Zealand in 2012 she was the commander of policing around the visits. She also was the national commander for policing for the 2015 FIFA Under-20 and ICC Cricket Cup. Sandra was subsequently based at Police National Headquarters, where she worked as the International Services Group Manager. She was also President of the Police Guild.

Sandra retired after 30 years of service in 2017.