New commander for region
He has worked in Syria and spent nearly 20 years policing in Counties Manukau, now Chris de Wattignar is the new police central district commander.
Superintendent de Wattignar, 44, has been in the job in an acting capacity since November, but was officially given the title last week.
He takes over from Sue Schwalger, who was last year promoted to an assistant commissioner role. Sarah Stewart is the Manawatu¯ area commander and works under de Wattignar.
Most of his career has been in South Auckland, so he has been getting used to looking after the farflung corners of a region encompassing Manawatu¯ , Whanganui, Ruapehu, Horowhenua, Tararua and Taranaki.
Originally from Otago, de Wattignar has been in the police for 20 years, having been recruited to Auckland in 1999. He started in road policing, became a detective, then moved into leadership roles.
One case that sticks in his mind is a Romanian man bashed to death in Mangere. He spent a lot of time with the victim’s family.
‘‘In the CIB you develop a lot of empathy and get to see the worst of people. You see victims and wha¯ nau trying to make sense of some of the tragedy that’s befallen them.
‘‘You work hard to get the best evidence into court to get the sense of justice.’’
De Wattignar was then promoted to inspector area commander at Counties Manukau south, his first experience of rural policing, something he was getting used to in the ‘‘decentralised’’ central district.
‘‘Everything takes time to get to for police [in central],’’ he said.
‘‘Being the district commander I spend a lot of time on the road and we have to three of everything.’’
De Wattignar, who has master’s degree in international security, spent most of 2017 in Syria working as a chemical weapons investigator for the United Nations. He was one of two from New Zealand investigating the use of chemical weapons and he said he was proud to have played a disarmament role.
He said the job was harrowing at times. ‘‘The civil war there has been raging for quite a number of years now and there’s a lot of players in the game. It was the children and their families I felt most for. ‘‘
Upon his return to New Zealand he worked for the assistant commissioner giving strategic advice, then came to Palmerston North.
With his background in road policing, that was one big issue he wanted to work on in the district.
‘‘For the district the big priority for me is road safety. We lost 62 people on the roads last year. It’s the simple things: driving to speed, all the usual advice, you get need to keep pushing those messages.
‘‘Wearing your seat belt increases your chance of surviving a crash.’’
Drink driving, being impaired by drugs, or using a cellphone were other problems, he said.