Chinese New Year cultural evening at RNZPC
Chinese New Year cultural evening marks new future of diversity at RNZPC
A cultural evening to mark Chinese New Year is being held at the Royal New Zealand Police College this week as part of a new effort to educate recruits around engaging with diverse communities.
A
new initiative from the RNZPC will see each recruit wing
partnered with a specific international community
represented by the Multicultural Council of
Wellington.
This is in an effort to give recruits a solid
foundation in understanding the challenges multicultural
communities face when working with Police.
The first
recruit group to take part is current Wing 313, which has
been partnered to the Chinese community.
The RNZPC is
bringing these recruits and Chinese representatives together
by hosting a special dinner on Wednesday 28 February to
celebrate Chinese New Year.
Guests attending the
event include Police Commissioner Mike Bush, representatives
from the Multicultural Council of Wellington and the Chinese
Cultural Centre, Porirua Mayor Mike Tana, and Member of
Parliament Chris Bishop, as well as recruits from Wing
313.
The Chinese Cultural Centre will be putting on some traditional performances and the RNZPC catering team are coming to the party with a Chinese-themed meal.
Dr Stephen Darroch, RNZPC Manager Teaching and Learning, says this event will be the first of its kind and holds real significance for how NZ Police’s future officers will engage with culturally diverse communities.
“By linking diverse multicultural communities with NZ Police Recruit wings we hope to foster understanding and learning by recruits about the range of community needs within New Zealand.”
“Our recruits will learn the critical importance of community partnerships to policing, understand the challenges of communicating and operating in a multi-cultural environment, and have some specific experience engaging with diverse communities,” says Dr Darroch.
“By partnering each wing with a different cultural group, we are ensuring our recruits have experiences which will help them to work effectively in the multicultural community that is New Zealand.”
“And this new diversity framework isn’t just helping
Police recruits, the communities partnering with the RNZPC
are excited about the opportunities it presents.
Through
this framework, the communities we partner with will learn
more about recruit training and policing in general, and
that will go a long way in helping to grow trust and
confidence in Police among our diverse communities.”
Media are invited to attend the event at the Royal New
Zealand Police College on Wednesday 28 February at
5:45pm.
Please confirm your attendance to Rachel Purdom
at Rachel.Purdom@police.govt.nz.
The event is
expected to run until approximately 8:30pm.
Stephen
Darroch Rachel Qi, Vice President of Multicultural Council
of Wellington will be available for interviews prior to the
event starting.
ENDS