30 YEARS KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY SAFE
Laurie Christian retired from Nelson Community Patrol after 30 years service being a
foundation member of the Patrol, one of the first patrols formed in New Zealand. At the time
1993 the Nelson City Council was concerned about the amount of damage occurring to
council property and after a young man was murdered in the central city, they decided to
form a group of volunteers to patrol at night to support the Police and help reduce the crime
in Nelson.
After advertising for volunteers, 18 people put their names forward. Some didn’t pass the
vetting, and others didn’t want to work the late nights over the weekend. Originally it was
called Roving Eyes, then became Night Watch Nelson and now Nelson Community Patrol.
The Council provided a council vehicle, a radio and covered running costs. One patroller
would drive around on their own and have radio contact with a Council staff member. This
was not ideal, so after a time the Police took over and provided a Police handheld radio. A
Police Liaison Officer (PLO) helped organise the roster and the training for the volunteers.
Mobile patrols then consisted of 2 patrollers who started at 11pm and finished at 4am
Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Laurie was involved with training and made sure the equipment was available and all in
working order. Magnetic signs would be attached to the council vehicle when being used on
patrol.
When CPNZ decided on marked vehicles with CPNZ Livery the NCC vehicle was no longer
fit for purpose, an approach was made to the local Ford dealer who kindly supplied a second
hand Toyota RAV4. Thanks to the kind donations of local businesses and community trusts,
the patrol vehicle has since been upgraded to a late model RAV4
Laurie spent many thousands of hours as a volunteer mobile patroller, manning and training
volunteers with the CCTV monitors at the Nelson Police Station. Whenever there was a
shortage of CCTV operators Laurie would volunteer and spend most weekends starting at
6pm and working right through until 3 or 4 am.
He enjoyed the camaraderie with the patrollers, and banter with the staff at the Nelson
Police Station from the District & Area Commanders to the front-line officers. He enjoyed
providing cakes and savouries when on CCTV duty for the Police night shifts.
Due to health issues, Laurie had to stop most of his hands on work as coordinator, trainer,
and keeping the patrol vehicle groomed and serviced.
Laurie has enjoyed the good times and the sad times as a volunteer with Nelson Community
Patrol. He is very proud of being one of the original patrollers and was one of those unique
volunteers that just gets on and does all those behind-the-scenes tasks.
Thanks Laurie you are a Legend.
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