Police Leaders Honoured By The Queen
Two leaders in Police are today honoured by the Queen for
their services to
New Zealand Police and the
community.
Superintendent Andy McGregor, Bay of Plenty
District Commander, and Detective
Superintendent Peter
Read both become Officers of the New Zealand Order
of
Merit (ONZM) in the New Year Honours.
Two former
police officers are also honoured after community
nominations –
Alf Filipaina, of Auckland, who becomes a
Member of the New Zealand Order of
Merit (MNZM) for
services to Police and the community; and Glenn Cockroft,
of
Invercargill, who receives the Queen’s Service Medal
(QSM) for services to
traffic safety.
Commissioner Andrew Coster congratulated all the award winners.
“Police work is all about service, not
awards, and these recipients would
be the first to tell
you that,” he says. “However, these honours
are
extremely well deserved and it’s fantastic to see
New Zealand formally
recognise their
contributions.
“Between them they have given more
than 150 years’ service to New
Zealand, in a range of
policing and community roles, and have all made
huge
contributions to our vision of making New Zealand
the safest country.
“We can all be very proud of
their achievements, and I congratulate
them
all.”
Full citations can be read below.
Superintendent Andy McGregor has been in
Police for 41 years. He has been Bay
of Plenty District
Commander since November 2014, with previous
roles
including
Canterbury Metro Commander and
National Manager of Communications Centres.
In the Bay
of Plenty he has instigated a culture of partnership
between
government, NGOs, iwi, hapū and minority
communities and has driven culture
change locally to
enable more effective policing and increase
community
engagement.
“I am very humbled by this
award, as it is not something I was
expecting,” says
Andy.
“I see this award as recognition for everyone
who has worked in this Bay of
Plenty district over many
years, in particular the focused work with
Māori
communities over the past several years, to
achieve better outcomes.
“I want to thank the team
of staff around me who continue to strive for the
Bay of
Plenty community, and of course, I wouldn’t be able to do
my work
without the love and support of my
family.”
Detective Superintendent Peter Read has
been a senior investigator for 20 of
his 42 years in
Police and is currently Detective Superintendent:
Southern.
He has had leadership roles in many
high-profile investigations, including
the St John of God
enquiry into historic sexual offending, the CTV
Building
collapse during the 2011 Christchurch
earthquakes, the Pike River Mine
explosion and 2019
terror attacks.
He says he is very humbled to receive the award:
“I’m lucky in that I have a very
understanding family and group of close
friends who have
been fully supportive of my work,” he says. “Because
of
their support, I have been able to better appreciate
the need for Police to
place victims at the centre of all
our investigations.
“I feel very privileged to have
worked on some very high profile and
complex criminal
investigations and to have worked with some
incredibly
supportive people and mentors inside and
outside the Police.
“I’ve also been lucky enough to
have led and been involved with great
teams who are very
motivated to provide the best service Police can
for
victims.
“One of the projects I am very proud to
be involved in is the Law
Enforcement Torch Run, and
seeing the joy it brings athletes to participate
in
Special Olympics events here and overseas.”
The
recipients will be presented with their insignia in a
ceremony hosted by
the Governor General of New Zealand,
The Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro, on a date to
be
confirmed.
CITATIONS
Officer of The New
Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM)
For services to the New
Zealand Police and the community
Superintendent Peter Andrew (Andy) McGregor
Superintendent Andy McGregor
has had a 41-year career with New Zealand Police
in
provincial and metropolitan settings and has been Bay of
Plenty District
Commander since November 2014.
He
was Canterbury Metro Commander from 2012 to 2014 and
National Manager of
Communications Centres from 2008 to
2012. He has instigated a culture of
partnership
throughout the Bay of Plenty between government,
Non-Government
Organisations, and iwi, hapū and minority
communities.
He has driven a culture change with local
Police, enabling more creative and
effective policing
styles and crime prevention initiatives,
changing
engagement with the community. This has included
the development of a mobile
application by his frontline
staff for support service referrals and
initiatives for
drug and alcohol addiction and family harm
offending.
His Gang Harm Reduction Team has provided
an alternative method of deterring
young men and seasoned
gang members away from the criminal lifestyle,
also
allowing mediation of several gang conflicts. He has
established strong
productive relationships with iwi
across the Bay of Plenty, which have been
enduring and
based on trust.
This has been instrumental in helping
address several sensitive tragedies and
ensuring major
changes in how Police engage with Māori
communities.
Superintendent McGregor founded and
chaired the Bay of Plenty Collective
Impact Governance
Group from 2016 to 2020, and currently co-chairs
the
Waiariki-Bay of Plenty Leadership
Group.
Detective Superintendent Peter Dunbar
Read
Canterbury
Detective Superintendent Peter Read
has been with New Zealand Police for 42
years, with 20
years as a senior investigator in the Criminal
Investigation
Branch. He is currently Detective
Superintendent: Southern, covering the
South Island and
latterly the Wellington Police District.
He has led
investigations into some of the most challenging and
high-profile
cases in New Zealand. He oversaw the St John
of God enquiry into significant
and historic sexual
offending by a group of priests at a Christchurch
school
from the 1960s to 1980s, leading the investigation
to a successful
resolution.
Following the 2011
Christchurch earthquakes, he oversaw the missing
person
coordination, the disaster victim identification
process and led the
investigation of the CTV Building
collapse. He was appointed in 2010 to lead
the criminal
investigation into the Pike River Mine explosion and to
oversee
the Pike River re-entry programme, an ongoing
investigation.
Following the 2019 Christchurch terror
attacks, he jointly led the
investigation and made key
evidential decisions that achieved outcomes that
observed
cultural sensitivities, without compromising evidential
demand
against a background of intense scrutiny.
He
has overseen the creation of the Investigation Management
Tool (IMT), a
software-based solution that has improved
management of investigative
casework.
Detective
Superintendent Read supported the development of the
Law
Enforcement Torch Run in New Zealand, a global
organisation supporting the
Special Olympics
movement.
Community nominations
Member of The
New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM)
For services to the New
Zealand Police and the community
Mr Alfred Meredith
(Alf) Filipaina
Counties Manakau
Mr Alf Filipaina
was a member of New Zealand Police from 1978 until
retiring
in 2016.
Mr Filipaina became the first
Pacific Liaison Officer the New Zealand Police
in 2000,
building a positive rapport with the Pacific community in
the
Counties Manukau Police District, allowing him to
resolve many issues in the
community. He co-created the
Counties Manukau Pacific Wardens and brought
together the
individual groups by establishing the Auckland Regional
Pacific
Wardens in 2010.
He was elected to Manukau
City Council in 2003 and appointed co-chair of Te
Tiriti
o Waitangi Komiti in 2007. In 2010 he was elected to the
newly formed
Auckland Council as the first Māori/Pacific
Councillor for the Manukau Ward.
Following the 2010
super city amalgamation, he played a key role in
the
development of the Auckland Unitary Plan, chairing
the committee from 2013 to
2016. He was appointed Deputy
Chairperson of the Environment and Communities
Committee
in 2016.
He helped form the Counties Manukau Police
Rugby League Team, assisting
establishment of the first
Trans-Tasman game against the New South Wales
Rugby
League Team. Mr Filipaina has been Director of Counties
Manukau Rugby
League zone since 2016, a Trustee since
2000 and now Chairperson of the
Mangere Law Centre, and
Deputy Chair of Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki
Makaurau
Authority.
Queen’s Service Medal
(QSM)
For services to traffic safety
Mr Glenn
Graeme Cockroft
Southern
Mr Glenn Cockroft has been
advocating for traffic safety in his community
and
nationally for more than 30 years.
Mr Cockroft
was a Ministry of Transport Traffic Sergeant from 1989
before
becoming a sergeant with New Zealand Police in
1992.
Until retiring from Police in 1997, he
implemented and campaigned for
national child safety
programmes travelling from North Cape to
Bluff,
showcasing a mobile showroom promoting the
importance of the safety of
children. He visited Lion’s
Club members’ homes, communities and schools
for the
campaign, on a voluntary basis, to allow the funding to have
the best
possible reach for children
nationally.
Following the completion of the programme,
he received a commendation from
the Minister of Transport
and Minister for Police for his contributions to
child
safety education.
He was involved with national
campaigns such as for cycle helmets in 1987,
‘Are they
in your hands’ 1989, and Lions for Life in
1992.
Since retiring, he has opened a museum dedicated
to preserving New Zealand
Traffic history, located on his
property, holding scale-model patrol cars and
motorbikes
and other equipment, touring groups from schools and
communities.
His museum was named New Zealand Garden
Magazine’s ‘Shed of the Year’
in 2018.
Mr
Cockroft helped establish and run the Cycle Bike Park Safety
Training
Centre in
Invercargill.
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