Arresting development
Chris Cahill grew up in a household dominated by women and is determined female voices will be heard at the top level of the Police Association.
Chris Cahill grew up in a household dominated by women and is determined female voices will be heard at the top level of the Police Association.
The new man heading the Police Association is planning an internal revolution that may pit him against some long-serving board colleagues. Fifty-one-year-old Detective Inspector Chris Cahill took over as the association’s president three months ago from the high-profile, mediafriendly Greg O’Connor, who held the job for 20 years. The perennial issue of police use of firearms has already grabbed headlines in 2017, and Cahill’s planned modernisation of the association is likely to spark internal political debate.
The association represents nearly 11,000 officers and unsworn staff, 95% of the eligible members. Since its establishment in the 1930s, it has become a multimilliondollar enterprise. Members’ benefits include the use of 70 holiday homes
– “the jewel in our crown” – some in prime locations, such as Queenstown and Waiheke Island, and valued at more than $50 million. Other membership services include life, fire and general insurance and legal advice.
Cahill was the youngest in a family of nine born to Catholic working-class Irish immigrant parents and often had to push hard to be seen and heard among his seven sisters and one brother. He is now using his voice and position to try to persuade long-serving board members to make room for new blood, specifically women and representatives of ethnic minorities. He’s also facing new concerns about the number of police shootings – seven in the past 18 months, four of them fatal.
Arming the police is always a big issue for the association and now that the Independent Police Conduct Authority is investigating the seven recent shootings, the issue is getting more attention. What’s your take on it?
I am alarmed at the increasing proliferation of illegal arms. Many New Zealanders are not aware that on a daily basis, police are confronting people who have firearms. There has been a big rise in the number of firearms coming into New Zealand each year, some of them later stolen or sold illegally. I’m hoping we’ll see tighter rules on firearms to stop so many falling into the hands of criminals. The more offenders point guns at police, the more likely our members will have to consider shooting as an option, but they are not trigger happy. We need a bit of pragmatism. For example, not so long ago, a police officer was shot at in Whangarei and the man went on the loose for about three days. Police in Northland and Auckland were routinely armed for that three-day period as a safety issue. That is good common-sense policing, with bosses making the right call. When there is extra danger out there, let’s have those guns more available.
Prime Minister Bill English, a fellow Southlander, recently said he wasn’t sure what a feminist is. What’s your take on feminism?
Growing up with seven older sisters, I’m
well aware women can do anything and quite often do it better. But I don’t like the idea of labelling. If you have to think about it too much, you’re trying too hard, rather than doing.
Speaking of labels, like Greg O’Connor before you, you’re white, male, Catholic, from a family of nine and a South Islander. Do any of those factors give you an edge for this job?
An element of that upbringing means you are a person who is going to be vocal, stand up for people’s rights and have an opinion. That is a prerequisite for being in a big family. If you don’t have an opinion, you’ll be forgotten.
At a time when even New Zealand Rugby is having to face the consequences of its dominant male culture, what does it say about the association that there are no women on the board?
We need more females, more Maori and Pasifika and, if you look at the membership, especially in Auckland, a lot more Asians to be involved. It is a challenge for all police unionism around the world. National office, where our employees are, is very female-dominated, so at least we have some different perspectives coming through. Growing up with seven sisters, I took a lot of this for granted, that women were strong and equal. It is not until you talk to females about what is holding them back that you realise the issues they face. Only four of 36 of our conference delegates are women, and that is where the power of the organisation lies. What we have identified is that they don’t feel they can challenge people already holding those positions; they are work colleagues, older, experienced people who have a lot of credibility, and people don’t want to challenge them. We need to have those hard conversations so those people understand that although they have done a magnificent job, it is time to step aside.
Did your sisters have the same opportunities as you?
All our family had the opportunity to get full schooling, and a lot of my sisters went to university. It was easier then, financially. My sisters were all very bright, school duxes, things like that. I was born in Invercargill, but five of my sisters were born in Ireland. My father, Bill, was a watersider and my mother, Maude, was a volunteer social worker for a lot of her life. Later in life, she got her diploma and did that professionally. She was one of those people who was always doing something for someone else. Dad was a pretty typical Irishman who liked a beer; he was a fairly old-fashioned sort of father. My brother wasn’t academic, but he has gone on to be very successful in business in Australia.
It’s a very political job. Are you a political animal?
It is a work in progress. I am not naive about politics, but I am not in the same league as Greg. Politics was his world and he loved it. I’ve said before that we almost function despite politicians and not because of them – New Zealanders just get on with their lives.
What I find interesting about Wellington is that everything the people in politics and government think is important actually isn’t to many other New Zealanders. They get very wound up about politics. You saw in the United States, with the election of Donald Trump, that he saw that what a lot of the media and politicians thought was important didn’t matter to ordinary people. You also see that when you get out of Wellington.
You have broad tastes in books. Were books important when you were growing up?
My sister Margaret was always giving me books. I still have two that she gave me as
“We need more females, more Maori and Pasifika and a lot more Asians to be involved.”
a kid. The Monk and the Goat, by William Papas, is about the grass being greener on the other side. The monk lived at the top of a mountain and a goat at the bottom, and they always wanted to swap places. When they did, they couldn’t get back, and the grass wasn’t any greener. It’s a beautiful book. The other was Tiger Flower, by Robert Vavra, on the work of artist Fleur Cowles. It is more poetry than narrative. Vavra did the photographs for James Michener’s book Iberia, which I enjoyed years later. You were previously a detective inspector. Are you drawn to crime writing? No, it is usually not credible. But I do enjoy spy stories, such as John le Carré’s. He is a great writer. I sometimes read to learn. For example, I am reading Jared Diamond’s The World Until Yesterday, which is very thought-provoking. I previously enjoyed his Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Collapse – fascinating books. But most of my reading is to escape from reality. I have really enjoyed James Michener’s books. Although they take you to a different world, they also give you a bit of history about the country or theme he is writing about. I like to get away from the real world when I’m reading.
“Everything the people in politics and government think is important actually isn’t to many other New Zealanders.”