Senior sergeant Miriam Reddington’s decision to join the police force came from a desire to give back. 

“It suited my personality - I wanted to be involved in the community and I wanted to help,” Miriam says. 

Bubbly, young and female, Miriam doesn’t fit the cop stereotype, despite running the show as senior sergeant at Wanaka Police. 

She’s fairly new to town and the role, having moved here in August last year and filling departing senior sergeant Allan Grindell’s shoes until April when the role was made permanently hers. 

Being a woman in the male-dominated police force doesn’t bother Miriam, and she’d like to see more women taking up the job. “We’re trying to make room for more diversity in the police force and it’s something we’re really supportive of - we want our workforce to represent our community.” 

The born-and-bred Wellingtonian has loved the move to Wanaka - luckily the coffee here is up to her capital city standards. She does “all the things everyone does here” - getting up the mountain in winter, paddleboarding, swimming, and hiking. 

Where Wellington life revolved more around dining out and socialising, she’s enjoying having nature on her doorstep, plus all the other benefits small town life brings. 

“I love it,” she says of Wanaka. “It’s a community rich in culture; people are really supportive of us [as police] and each other.” 

Miriam’s most recent Wellington role with police was with the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) - which is dedicated to investigating and solving serious crime, and targeting organised crime and recidivist criminals. 

She said she still “loves the CIB and that type of work” but has enjoyed the switch from metropolitan to rural policing. While there’s “a bit of a bubble” for some people in Wanaka, Miriam says people should be cognisant that there is “the same range of people here as any metropolitan area”.

Miriam is one of 15 police staff based at the station in Wanaka, as well as two support staff and two detectives.

Three main issues in Wanaka take up the largest portion of the police’s time, Miriam said.

“Our biggest demand is for road policing,” Miriam said. “It’s not just tourist drivers but the locals too.” 

She said some of the issues we face on our roads come from the type of roading and tricky terrain we have here: “Policing the roads is something we take very seriously.”

The second issue is alcohol, which is “huge for us”, Miriam says, adding that monitoring drinking over summer,and preventing youth drinking and drink driving are priorities. 

The inevitable rush of busyness and increase in drinking around the New Year’s period is something police prevent as best they can, Miriam says, and they try to be educative in the community. “Everybody has a part to play.”

The third issue, to a lesser extent, Miriam said, was family harm or domestic violence. “We still have demand here in the family harm space.”

“We want people to know there is no stigma and they can come to us for help.”

Being a local police woman and having a private life separate from work can sometimes be a hard balance, Miriam says, but adds its “really important I’m connected and available to the community”. 

One of the ways the police keep the community informed is through the weekly Crimeline column, which Miriam says is unique to Wanaka as far as she knows. Police from other towns have even been in touch to ask how they can set up their own versions. 

“We love that we have that door into the community.” 

The summer season, fast approaching, is the police’s busiest time by far, and can prove the most challenging. 

“We get hard jobs to do that people don’t always like, but we’re always trying to do the best for the community. We’re people too, people with families.” While people don’t always appreciate it, it’s important to remember “what we’re doing is preventative,” Miriam says. 

It’s been a fast adjustment to life in Wanaka, somewhere Miriam spent time holidaying while growing up, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I go to Wellington sometimes and I think: Why am I leaving here? Even when I’m going for a few days.”

PHOTO: Wanaka App