He said when a position became vacant in Oamaru it seemed the right time to move his growing family home to North Otago, where he was born and raised.
''My wife works here fulltime and my kids are here for sport. My wife's from Oamaru and all our family are here except for my parents who are in Waimate. It's just easier on the kids.''
He has three children, aged 9, 7 and 4, and ''one on the way''.
Const Alden went to police college in 2007 after former Oamaru sergeant Derek Beveridge sold him on the idea of becoming a police officer.
He had been working as a baker at both of Oamaru's major supermarket chains.
Once qualified as a police officer, he worked in Oamaru for four years before heading north.
What he loved about his job and what kept him in the force were the many opportunities to help people and the ever-changing tasks.
''That's one of the joys of the job; you don't know what you're going to be dealing with on a day-to-day basis.''
He started work in Oamaru this week after finishing in Waimate on Thursday.
He missed his Waimate colleagues and that community.
There was a friendly rivalry between Oamaru and Waimate with each the butt of the other's jokes, but Const Alden refused to reveal whether he had a bias towards either town or a favourite joke.
