With more than 35 years' experience, Sergeant Jason Perry at Papamoa Police Station is all about community in his role.

Joining the police in 1986 in the South Waikato at age 19 years old, being a man in blue was something Jason always wanted to do. With a mix of policing roles, Jason has worked in uniform duties, the Criminal Investigation Bureau, family harm and the Criminal Justice Support Unit.

Now, Sergeant of the Papamoa Police station, Jason can confidently say: 'I've seen a lot, been involved in a lot, and worked with a lot of great people.”

Community Strength

Jason's vision for Papamoa is to have a strong sense of community. 'For me, out here it's all about community,” says Jason. 'Cops live here, their kids go to school here, we shop here…it's about being part of our community and looking after each other and that's what I want to foster.”

'Family harm has always been a big thing for me,” says Jason, who worked in the Western BOP family harm team for 10 years. He says the impact of family harm flows onto the kids witnessing it. 'They go off to be perpetrators themselves or victims themselves – so family harm perpetrators are creating a huge amount of harm.

'That's why I want our police that work here to be invested in family harm episodes they go to and make sure people are safe and that the people who are victims have an opportunity to get out of that situation,” says Jason.

With large urban development's occurring in Papamoa East, youth is another area of focus for Jason. 'We need to be doing work in that space and even the little things like tagging and that sort of thing – if that pops up we want to tackle that – we don't want Papamoa becoming a slum.”

No barriers

Keeping up with modern health and safety rules, a fence has been installed at the front of the station. 'I'm sorry about the fence,” says Jason. 'It's just the world we live in now and it looks like a big barrier to people – but come on in.”

The Papamoa Police Station is open weekdays 8am-4pm. For afterhours, call 111 or 105. An officer will always be on duty in Papamoa 24/7, seven days a week.

Jason Perry says policing is more than getting in the cop car and going to fights. Photo: Georgia Minkhorst.