Finding a niche in Peninsula policing
PORTOBELLO has a new sheriff in town.
Senior Constable Aaron Smith has been in the solecharge role for about a month, replacing longserving Otago Peninsula lawman Lox Kellas, who stepped down this year after serving the seaside community near Dunedin since 1984.
Snr Const Smith now mans the thin blue line in the vast but sparsely populated area ranging from Highcliff to Taiaroa Head and out to Cape Saunders.
Originally from Owaka, in the Catlins, he recently moved his young family into the home on the same property as the small police station, just up the hill from the shops.
Locals had been very supportive since he started the role fulltime after filling in for a few months last year, he said, and he generally clocked about two dozen friendly waves when driving into town.
‘‘The community has been wonderful since I started.’’
His 24 years of policing began in South Auckland, gradually returning him south via Feilding, Palmerston North and more recently 10 years at the South Dunedin police station, beginning as a frontline first responder before moving into neighbour hood policing teams.
Snr Const Smith said he had found his niche in community policing.
‘‘What I love about solecharge policing is the variety of work, the people in the community and having the responsibility for your own little patch.’’
A big believer in the preventionfirst model, he preferred to sort things out with a quiet word rather than pick up the pieces at the bottom of the cliff, he said.
‘‘Getting in early and finding ways to nip things in the bud before they escalate is the way to go.’’
Much of the peninsula’s police work consisted of dealing with traffic offences and collisions, he said.
The police statistics back him up.
In the year to July, there have been 49 traffic incidents on the peninsula and 10 vehicle collisions, five burglaries and breakins, three assaults and one illicit drug offence.
Snr Const Smith said anyone in the community was welcome to stop by and have a yarn if his police fourwheeldrive was outside the station, or alternatively give him a ring to discuss any concerns.
A Portobello police station (03) 4780209, Crimestoppers 0800 555111.