Police prosecutor takes leap of faith
It has been six months of learning on her feet for Timaru’s first nonsworn police prosecutor.
Toaiva Hitila was working as a defence lawyer in Auckland when she decided to switch sides, moving to Timaru in January to become the town’s first police prosecutor to hold a law degree rather than a police insignia.
‘‘I’m quite humbled by that,’’ Hitila said.
‘‘When you are having a very difficult day, it’s good to keep something like that at the back of your mind and keep going.’’
A police prosecutor’s role is to represent police in criminal cases before the district court.
A ‘‘leap of faith’’ saw Hitila apply for the job, in a town she would not have been able to pick out on a map.
Hitila said that in New Zealand’s bigger centres, a mix of sworn and non-sworn police employees served as prosecutors while in smaller courts most were sworn officers.
‘‘I enjoy just creating this relationship with police officers.
‘‘Maybe I can learn from them, maybe they can learn from me.’’
Sergeant Ian Howard, of Timaru, who shares the role of police prosecutor with Hitila, said she was ‘‘doing well picking up the police culture’’.
‘‘She’s had to learn very quickly and on her feet,’’ Howard said.
Hitila, who graduated from Auckland University in 2016 and was admitted to the bar in 2017, said her objective as a police prosecutor was similar to when she was a defence lawyer.
‘‘You are having to understand their [the defendants] backgrounds and at the end of the day, you are wanting a good resolution for that person,’’ she said.
‘‘At the same time, it is essential to provide safer communities and the victims must have their rights too.
‘‘It is not black and white.’’ She said she still worked closely with defendants when they were going through diversion, a scheme police provide to low-end offenders to resolve their cases outside court by setting requirements for them, such as volunteering for the Salvation Army.
‘‘We try to offer it where it’s suitable. We do try to help.’’
After a few years in Timaru, Hitila wanted to ‘‘go back’’ to Samoa and delve into climate change and other international law issues – which was her goal when she first decided she wanted to be a lawyer.
‘‘I’m taking a detour at the moment.’’