Sergeant Tony Woodbridge, of Oamaru, has worked his fair share of holidays during his 22-year career and at present he holds a crime prevention portfolio in which he works to turn those anti-crime messages into a reduction in crime in North Otago.
He said he still believed in the messages the police produced and expected to work hard over the holidays to get them out to the community.
"I’m a policeman to help people, but people may shake their heads at that and say cops are just gathering money, but it’s helping people. Arresting people is helping people."
He had already attended several family violence incidents, which he thought was sad for everybody involved, and frustrating, given all of the crimes were avoidable.
"So much of our work is born from alcohol because the arguments, the emotion that gets out of control comes from a lot of alcohol."
Another role Sgt Woodbridge and other officers were expected to fill during the year, but particularly in the holidays, was telling people a loved one had died unexpectedly through either car crashes, suicide or cot death.
"It might sound a bit callous, but every cop would much rather deal with the dead body than tell the loved one that family member has died. There’s no easy way to do it. It’s hard talking about it."
He and other police were geared up to take care of dead people at crash scenes, a role not often talked about, though each holiday period media outlets report the road toll religiously.
"For me to rationalise it, I have to think I’m helping someone. To pick up a dead body, all too often from some of these road crashes there will be mangled bodies ... they will be things someone shouldn’t have to see. ‘‘It is hard, but again, you are trying to give a deceased person dignity ... trying to help the next of kin."
Right through the job, every aspect of it, be it crashes, search and rescue or dealing with a drink-driver, police were trying to help people, he said.
