She congratulated local officers at the Dunedin central police station yesterday, while in the city for the opening of New Zealand Blue Light's 29th annual conference.
Mrs Tolley told the Otago Daily Times Southern police were ahead of their counterparts in New Zealand.
"I was really impressed with their enthusiasm, professionalism and dedication. They are getting results and feeling proud of the work, as they should," she said.
Mrs Tolley was keen to learn about a push towards "more evidence-based policing" in the Southern district over the past three years.
Local officers were collecting good data and using it to make the most of resources, ensuring the right people were in the right place at the right time, she said.
Mrs Tolley said she was also impressed with collaborative work between Dunedin police and University of Otago staff and students.
She cited an initiative in which officers went door-knocking around North Dunedin to discuss with students why flats were being burgled and how properties could be better secured.
It was "good old-fashioned policing" and it worked well, she said.
Mrs Tolley said Government proposals for more consistent policing nationwide would enhance what Southern officers were already doing.
This year certain police districts would trial the use of iPad technology, so frontline officers could access and document information efficiently while away from the station, she said.
That may be available to Southern police by October, Mrs Tolley said.
At the Blue Light conference more than 100 delegates were told the organisation's work had never been more important.
Assistant Police Commissioner Superintendent Dave Cliff cited recent cases in which young New Zealanders had been seriously injured and killed, including two Mosgiel teenagers badly burned in an explosion while huffing gas.
"We continue to see examples of how things can go terribly wrong," he said.
The conference aimed to generate fresh ideas among those who dealt with at-risk youth, in respect of how crime and other issues for young people could be prevented.
Also involved were Blue Light's national executive chairman, Senior Sergeant Lance Tebbutt, Wing Commander Brett Marshall, of the New Zealand Defence Force, Southern Police District commander Superintendent Bob Burns and Blue Light members from Australia and the Solomon Islands.
