End of an era for Gordon
For almost half a century, Sergeant Gordon Grantham has donned his blue police uniform and served the community.
It will be the end of an era when he takes off the uniform for the final time to retire on February 17.
Cambridge in the Waikato has been his home for 27 years but he began his career with the New Zealand Police in Wellington in 1969. He graduated in 1970 and remained in Wellington for 21 years, working at the Central, Taranaki Street and Wellington South stations.
In those days, when a man graduated from the police college they had to stay in barracks until they were married or had completed 14 years of service.
He married Diana Grantham in 1974. They have three adult daughters who were educated in Cambridge.
He has had a successful career, and counts himself lucky.
‘‘I had a firearm pointed at me once by an offender and I have been assaulted on the odd occasion,’’ he said.
‘‘In fact I think the worst assault I had was outside of the National Hotel here in Cambridge in the 1990s, but I’ve been pretty lucky over the 48 years I’ve been with the police.’’
In the late 1980s Grantham was a crime prevention officer for Wellington.
During this time there was a spate of fire bombings of police houses in the Wairarapa.
It was his duty to organise a security survey for all the police stations and homes in the area.
Government funding was provided to instigate his recommendations, including protective film applied to front windows that could deflect a molotov cocktail attack.
‘‘I’ve seen a few bizarre things too,’’ he laughed.
‘‘There was once a lady in Mt Victoria who phoned us because she had pigs in her garden, and we thought it might have been a joke because it wasn’t a rural area.
‘‘But she really did have three pigs in her yard and she had no idea where they came from, so the cops contained them and took them out to a pet farm,’’ said Grantham.