Ngā Pātai Auau
Frequently asked questions from people interested in becoming a Police officer.
Weekends, which start at 5pm on Fridays, are usually your free-time and we encourage you to travel home to see your families.
Sometimes, you’ll have to do self-directed study in the evenings and on weekends, so you’ll need to balance this with whānau time.
You may find you’ll need to spend more time at the college to study during the weekends, if you find the study difficult or if you’re unable to study well at home.
There are no childcare or accommodation facilities for your whānau.
If you live near the college this could be a possibility for you, however this will need to be discussed with your Selection Specialist when you are offered a place on wing.
Yes, you'll be paid fortnightly. You can find out more about this here: Pay and Benefits
You may be expected to pay a small accommodation and/or meals fee while you're training. You’ll be told before going to the college and these payments are deducted from your fortnightly salary.
Police pay for transport to the RNZPC and this will be arranged with you just before you go to the college.
You're welcome to visit them anytime, although they will not be able to spend time with you until after hours.
You're invited to the pōwhiri to welcome the recruits and families to the New Zealand Police. It's on Monday morning of their first week at 9:30am and it will be followed by a morning tea at the Police College. If that's a public holiday, it will be moved to the next working day.
At "The Café" you can buy coffee, lunch, and dinner. Families and friends can have meals with the recruits in the dining room. You'll need to purchase a meal ticket from "The Café". There is a range of kids-friendly food items available.
If you'd like to stay overnight or for a weekend, there are many inexpensive local motels and a campground with cabins in easy walking distance.
Weekends, which start at 5pm on Fridays, are usually free-time for recruits and we encourage them to travel home to see their families. Sometimes, they'll have to do self-directed study in the evenings and on weekends, so they'll need to balance this with whānau time or they may need to stay at the Police College to get the study completed.
Here's a date to remember: the weekend of week 6 is a good time to go home from a study perspective as it's the weekend after "Summative One" which is their first major exam. Please remember that exam dates can change, so be mindful of that.
Booking flights early is a good idea to get the good deals, but recruits can only leave after the end of their day, at 5pm, to get to the airport.
Some recruits will have an opportunity to re-sit major assessments during some or all of their annual leave week. So please bear that in mind if you're booking a non-refundable holiday during this week. Recruits are told annual leave dates when they start at the Police College.
Yes. We welcome you and your children to visit. Seeing where their parent is staying really helps young children adjust to Mum or Dad being away! We find that children love visiting the college.
The college is a busy place so after hours or at the weekends are a good time to visit their loved one. During these times, children can kick a ball around or shoot some hoops in the gymnasium. Over 16's can use our fitness centre, when accompanied by a parent.
The Police Museum is also located at the college. Open 7 days, it has some great activities for children. Aotea Lagoon, with a water park, is just across the road - it's a brilliant place for children to play.
If there’s a serious illness, hospitalisation, bereavement, birth or other emergency we usually let our recruits take leave for a couple of days to travel home. We talk to recruits about this when they arrive. There may even be some financial assistance for travel costs in these situations if recruits join the Police Association.
Recruits won’t be given leave to attend these sorts of occasions.
Here are some things to think about:
It's important to think about and discuss what you may need for the 20 weeks. Have some things to look forward to because it can be tough going at times. You may need some extra help and support if you have children.
Talk to whānau and friends who can help with childcare and household tasks. You may know partners or families of police or other recruits that you could be in contact with.
This is important especially if you will have a reduction in income. Consider expenses with one person living away from home, including costs to travel home, childcare, travel for whānau to attend the graduation. A fund for unexpected bills is a good idea.
Police employees are eligible to join the NZ Police Credit Union, which offers a recruit loan at a low-interest rate to help during training. You may be eligible for financial assistance through Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) and/or Inland Revenue (IRD).
Discuss the expectations you may have of each other and sort out any conflict or issues in your relationship before your partner heads to the Police College.
Talk about how you’ re going to keep in contact with each other and the children. Consider frequency of visits home and if you can come to the college for a visit.
Recruits who join the Police Association welfare fund are eligible to book holiday homes, which can provide a halfway point to meet if you’re a long distance apart.
Think about the best time for you both to make contact by phone calls, texts, Skype and Facetime. Recruits can make national phone calls free of charge from the landline in the barracks.
Recruits are issued with an iPhone for work purposes, but some limited personal use is allowed.
Babies, children, and teens will go through an adjustment period while Mum or Dad is away. Discuss how you can help them manage the changes and make this time as smooth as possible for them.
Discuss what sort of contact will work best for your children. Work out how you will celebrate special occasions such as birthdays and manage the school holidays and other events.
You may like to tell school teachers that one parent is away, so they can talk with your child about it.
We recognise that your partner making a career change and living away can be a challenging time for you both, especially for partners at home with children.
Recruits will study for 2-3 hours in the evening and 4-6 hours each day on the weekends. Leading up to major exams they often study 4 hours every evening and 8 hours per day on weekends. It can be pretty full-on and they may seem distracted and under pressure when you talk together on the phone.
