Retiring officer had many roles in 31 years
THE lights at the Dunedin Central Police Station may have stayed on a little later last night as staff hosted a sendoff for retiring officer Inspector Kelvin Lloyd.
The popular 52yearold hung up his hat on 31 years of policing yesterday.
During that time he had multiple roles across most areas, including as commander of the armed offenders squad and acting area commander for coastal Otago.
It all started back in the mid1980s when the Dunedin boy joined the police at just 21.
After attending police college he was promptly shipped off to Auckland.
‘‘Which was where everyone was going at that stage. It was very rare to get to a South Island town unless you were married,’’ he explained.
Spending three and ahalf years in Auckland at a time when New Zealand’s crime rate was nearing its historical peak was a baptism of fire for the young constable.
He said his time on the beat in Auckland was a ‘‘fantastic training ground,’’ but admits he was initially naive about the realities of frontline policing.
‘‘It was a shock for me to see that seedy underbelly.’’
The police’s methods for tackling crime had come a long way since his Auckland days — he described police’s approach to family violence at the time as ‘‘abysmal’’.
He could still point out the house in Grey Lynn, he said, where he and other officers visited a woman who had obviously been beaten, but police were forced to leave her with her abusive partner because she refused to make a complaint.
Having spent time working in the family violence area he was pleased the police now took a much more proactive approach, and the offender would ‘‘definitely have been arrested’’ if the incident happened today.
After Auckland he worked in Balclutha, where he relished the opportunity to hone his policing skills.
‘‘For me, that was where I learnt the craft of being able to talk to people, because you couldn’t rely on backup. You relied on the locals. And I loved it down there.’’
He then transferred up to Christchurch for a couple of years at a ‘‘more metropolitan station’’ before he returning home to Dunedin.
Five years later, Balclutha came calling again and he returned to the town as a sergeant. He experienced many highs and a few lows. ‘‘Again, a fantastic community to be in, fantastic variety of portfolios. Search and rescue, inquests, as well as running section. It was a really busy time down there; we were having a lot of fatal crashes with heavy motor vehicles.’’
He particularly recalled a crash at Wairuna, where a family from the North island were killed.
Returning to Dunedin Central station in 2002, he eventually became head of the commercial vehicle unit.
Another defining moment was joining the armed offenders squad (AOS) in 2011.
Aged 45 at the time, he was the oldest person in the Southern district to be accepted into the elite group.
‘‘I had thought the opportunity was well and truly over.’’
The selection course was a gruelling test of his mental and physical strength, he said. Despite being a senior sergeant at the time, rank meant little and he started off like everyone, as a ‘‘squaddie’’.
He eventually took over as AOS commander in 2014.
During his seven years with the squad, its officers never had to fire a shot during an incident.
‘‘And thank goodness we haven’t.’’ One of his darkest days in policing came during his time with the AOS, when he attended the aftermath of a 2014 doublemurder suicide in the Dunedin suburb of St Leonards. Edward Livingstone had shot dead his two children Bradley (9) and Ellen (6) before turning the gun on himself. It affected the whole team.
‘‘Just seeing what some people are capable of doing to others [. . .] almost all those squad members had families.’’
Insp Lloyd will soon start a new role with the New Zealand Transport Agency as South Island regulatory compliance manager, in some ways reprising his earlier role in the police with the commercial vehicle unit, but with less roundtheclock pressure.
‘‘I have no doubt it will be a much quieter life.’’
While he would not miss being available on the phone 24/7, he anticipated his new role would provide challenges.
‘‘Like any new jobs it will have its moments.’’
He would probably have a little more time to indulge his love of fishing and latemodel American cars.
Senior Sergeant Ben Butterfield, of Dunedin, will take over Insp Lloyd’s role as Otago acting coastal area commander.
It was a shock for me to see that seedy underbelly