This is a list of New Zealand Police officers killed in the line of duty. As of 2009, 29 police officers have been killed by criminal act,[1][2] and about 17 have died from accidental causes, during the execution of duty. There has been one instance of multiple police deaths, when Stanley Graham gunned down four officers attempting to apprehend him in 1941, and four double fatalities. Most of the homicides have been a result of gunshot wounds, the accidents mainly due to either drowning or vehicle (car/aircraft) accidents.
A slain officer may receive a police funeral, including an honour guard and flag-draped casket,[3] and be officially mourned in the New Zealand House of Representatives.[4][5] At least four officers have received posthumous honours — Sergeant Stewart Guthrie received the highest Commonwealth civilian decoration, the George Cross. The Lou Grant Award, created in the memory of the police sergeant who died in the 1993 Eagle helicopter mid-air collision, is awarded every second year for excellence and contributions to search and rescue.
The Memorial Wall at The Royal New Zealand Police College lists the names of fallen colleagues, whom the service commemorates annually on Police Remembrance Day. The Police Association together with the New Zealand Police introduced a Police Remembrance Day Pin in 2007, for officers to wear to honour the memory of those slain during the course of duty. The pin combines a Huia tail feather with a police chevron; the Huia bird was sacred in Māori culture, wearing of its feathers restricted to people of high status.
In addition to the human officers, 23 police dogs have died in the line of duty;[6] notably the drowning of Enzo in 2007,[7] and Gage, a six-year-old German Shepherd, in 2010.
Contents |
shaded rows denotes when officers were killed in the same incident.
Since 1 September 1886.[8]
| Badge | Rank | Name | Age | Honours | Date | Circumstance | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | Constable | Neil McLeod | 44 | 30 July 1890 | Gumdigger Henry Funcke was removed from a steamer and had his rifle confiscated. He became angry and drew a concealed pistol, firing several shots at the departing ship, one of which stuck McLeod in the chest | Dargaville (Mangawhare Wharf) | [9] | |
| 674 | Sergeant | John Patrick Hackett McGuire | 42 | 14 April 1910 | Shot in the stomach during a manhunt, and died four days later. John Joseph Powelka was acquitted of murder but received 21 cumulative years for seven charges of burglary | Palmerston North | [10] | |
| 963 | Constable | John Doyle | 35 | 5 February 1913 | Died in hospital two days after being assaulted by two men in the Albion Hotel | Shannon | [11] | |
| 2030 | Constable | Vivian Dudding | 32 | 6 October 1919 | Attending a domestic dispute, he was shot in the head and died an hour later | Thorndon, Wellington | [12] | |
| 1764 | Constable | James Dorgan | 37 | 27 August 1921 | Shot investigating a break-in, the killer was never found | Timaru | [13] | |
| 1582 | Constable | Thomas Heeps | 50 | 21 October 1934 | Died in Waikato Hospital after being shot twice by Henare Hona, the subject of a manhunt | Otorohanga (nearby) | [14] | |
| 2209 | Sergeant | William Cooper | 43 | 8 October 1941 | Shot by farmer Stanley Graham, who they were attempting to apprehend after he refused to surrender firearms | Hokitika (nearby) | [15] | |
| 3526 | Constable | Frederick William Jordan | 26 | [16] | ||||
| 3039 | Constable | Percy Campbell Tulloch | 35 | [17] | ||||
| 2364 | Constable | Edward Mark Best | 42 | [18] | ||||
| 36 | Traffic Officer | John Kehoe | 24 | 31 January 1949 | Shot several times by Richard Angus McGill, who he had stopped for speeding with his motorcycle | Whakatane | [19] | |
| 2691 | Sergeant | William Shore Hughes | 48 | 27 May 1951 | Shot dead during a domestic dispute by Noema Raana Rika | Otaki | [20] | |
| Detective Inspector | Wallace Chalmers | 46 | QPM | 6 January 1963 | Shot dead by Victor George Wasmuth while attending a shooting | Waitakere Ranges | [21] | |
| 2839 | Detective Sergeant | Neville Wilson Power | 25 | QPM | [22] | |||
| 4321 | Constable | James Thomas Richardson | 24 | 3 February 1963 | Both shot while sitting in police car, after responding to a domestic dispute | Lower Hutt | [23] | |
| 3809 | Constable | Brian Leslie Schultz | 21 | [24] | ||||
| 4699 | Constable | Donald Richard Stokes | 23 | 15 August 1966 | Beaten by escaping prisoners at Dunedin police station, died later in hospital | Dunedin | [25] | |
| 2950 | Sergeant | Gilbert Peter Arcus | 44 | 4 February 1970 | Assaulted by a mentally disturbed woman he was trying to placate, fell and struck his head on the ground, dying from the injury an hour later | Tauranga | [26] | |
| 5052 | Constable | Peter William Murphy | 21 | 25 September 1976 | Shot attending a break-in at a sports shop | Invercargill | [27] | |
| 1395 | Traffic Officer | Barry Yorston Gibson | 32 | 13 June 1977 | Assaulted by a motorist and died in hospital from head injuries | New Plymouth | [28] | |
| 1351 | Traffic Officer | Robin James Dudding | 44 | GM | 7 April 1986 | Taken hostage and later shot dead by Ross Kameta | Lake Rotoiti, Bay of Plenty | [29][30] |
| 4601 | Senior Constable | Peter Morris Umbers | 35 | GM | 27 May 1990 | Bashed to death with his own baton by Richard Thomas Lakich, who he had stopped | Ranfurly (nearby) | [31] |
| 5024 | Sergeant | Stewart Graeme Guthrie | 41 | GC | 13 November 1990 | Shot in the head after encountering and firing a warning shot at spree killer David Gray during the Aramoana massacre | Aramoana | [32] |
| D717 | Constable | Glenn Arthur McKibben | 25 | 21 April 1996 | Shot standing beside his police car by former soldier Terence Thompson, who was later shot dead by police. | Flaxmere, Hastings | [33] | |
| G083 | Constable | Lester Murray Stretch | 38 | 27 May 1999 | Bashed to death by Carlos Namana, a burglar he had followed from a break-in | Mangakino | [34][35] | |
| F272 | Detective Constable | Duncan Taylor | 39 | NZBM | 5 July 2002 | Died instantly after being shot by teenager Daniel Luff, his partner escaped wounded | Rongotea, Manawatu | [36][37] |
| G092 | Sergeant | Derek Wootton | 52 | 11 July 2008 | Struck by vehicle fleeing police while laying road spikes | Titahi Bay | [34][38][39] | |
| Sergeant | Don Wilkinson | 47 | 11 September 2008 | Disturbed while attempting to secretly fix a tracking device to a car, received several shots from a .22 air rifle, one fatally through the chest | Mangere | [40][41] | ||
| Senior Constable | Leonard Snee | 53 | 7 May 2009 | Shot executing a cannabis search warrant by former territorial soldier Jan Molenaar, other officers and a member of the public received gunshot wounds | Napier | [42] |
| Badge | Rank | Name | Age | Honours | Date | Circumstance | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constable | Fitzgerald | 26 September 1851 | Drowned when a boat making for the Lady Nugent capsized | Lyttelton Harbour | [43][44] | |||
| Sergeant-Major | Edward John Garvey | 30 | Légion d'honneur | 25 September 1863 | Died in a snowstorm on his way to inspect mine diggings near Naseby | Kakanui Range | [45][46][47] | |
| Constable | John Duncan | 28 May 1865 | Drowned travelling in a punt to investigate a burglary | Kaniere (nearby) | ||||
| Constable | James Robinson | 13 November 1891 | Fell and struck head on iron bar at police station | Westport | [48][49][50] | |||
| Constable | A J Dillon | c. 32 | 18 January 1916 | Drowned with nurse Regan who he was attempting to save | West Coast | [51] | ||
| Constable | Adam George Begg | 26 | 24 February 1926 | Killed by a passing train while searching the Parnell Tunnel for an escaped prisoner. | Parnell, Auckland | [52][53] | ||
| Constable | James Shields | October 1933 | Car was hit by the Rotorua Express at a railway crossing | Huntly (nearby) | ||||
| Constable | Charles Williams | August 1935 | Drowned attempting to save a woman who fell from the Hamilton Railway Bridge | Waikato River | ||||
| Constable | W J Watt | 10 August 1939 | Car went off Elephant Hill bridge, returning to a shooting investigation, Constable Black seriously injured | Waimate (nearby) | [54] | |||
| Constable | Alan Robert Liddell | 22 | 26 February 1976 | Drowned while conducting an investigaton with two colleagues, into a drowning on the river 17 days earlier | Grey River | [55] | ||
| Constable | Greg Rowe | 23 | 1 April 1978 | Drowned after leg became entangled in a rope and fell overboard from Lady Elizabeth II | Palliser Bay (nearby) | [56][57] | ||
| Senior Sergeant | Phillip William "Phil" Ward | 39 | 2 July 1986 | Drowned when police launch Lady Elizabeth II capsized during a storm, two other officers rescued by Peter Button | Wellington Harbour | [58] | ||
| Constable | Glen Hughes | 28 | ||||||
| Detective | Anthony Raymond "Tony" Harrod | 43 | 17 December 1990 | Fell from helicopter sling during cannabis recovery operation | Waitotara Valley, Taranaki | [59][60] | ||
| Sergeant | Lindsay Eion "Lou" Grant | 39 | 26 November 1993 | Police helicopter Eagle collided mid-air with a Piper Archer traffic spotting aircraft. Two civilians also died. | Auckland City | [61] | ||
| Constable | Alastair Alan Sampson | 27 | ||||||
| Senior Constable | Phillip Anthony "Piripi" Wipatene | 55 | 15 July 2004 | Patrol car collided with another car on the Oakura Bridge | New Plymouth (14 km southwest) | [62] | ||
| Detective | Travis Hughes | 37 | 29 January 2005 | Cessna 172 aircraft crashed while on cannabis reconnaissance, civilian pilot also died | Gibbston Valley, Central Otago | [63][64] | ||
| Police Employee | Pamela (Pam) Brien | 54 | 22 February 2011 | Killed in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Pamela Brien was at a work-related meeting related to her job in the child protection unit of the Christchurch detachment when the earthquake hit resulting in the CTV Building she was in collapsing. | Christchurch | [65] |