About the New Zealand Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai
We are an association working to ensure the best employment, health and welfare outcomes for our members and their families – on duty and off duty.
Our vision is to be the trusted guardian of the wellbeing of the police family. We do this by representing and supporting our members through a combination of advocacy and industrial expertise, and by providing cost effective and well-managed welfare products.
We have 13,500 members comprising 99% of constabulary police officers across all ranks and 75% of Police employees. That collective strength gives us credibility to advocate for our members in the public domain, with politicians and with Police.
The fight for fair pay, resources and safe working conditions for NZ police officers began in 1913, and in 1936 the NZ Police Association was legally formed. Now, more than eighty years later, the ever-changing nature of police work presents a myriad of demanding and often dangerous challenges for our members.
Our members’ interests are represented at national level by elected board members, and at the regional level by elected committees.
The New Zealand Police Association Constitution (previously the Association Rules) governs the operation of the New Zealand Police Association.
Police Association membership also entitles members to join the Police Welfare Fund Limited. This non-profit organisation negotiates specifically for members and provides them with high quality services and products at very competitive rates.
For details of the products and services available to members through the Police Association and Police Welfare Fund, click here.
New Zealand Police Association is a New Zealand Incorporated Society, number 215711.
The meaning behind Te Aka Hāpai
The Police family are the main trunk on which the vine climbs, so they’re also the strength of the Association. Without the strength of that family the Association would suffer in turn.
While vines are sometimes threatening to their supporting trees, native New Zealand vines tend to live in symbiotic relationships with the native trees they rely on, providing mutual benefit and support to each other. Kareao is a mid-growing climber that prefers to climb trees occupying just the highest forest canopies. It also climbs gently and gives generous space to its supporting tree. In this way, the collective strength of the forest is achieved through leveraging the strength of each individual plant. This is not unlike the Association leveraging the strength of each Police Family member.
The word Hāpai [elevate, uplift] is a word that encompasses the values of care and collective strength the Association holds at its core. This term can be used metaphorically for elevating mana in others, or as a literal term, to carry things in front, where they are visible. In this light it certainly seems apt for an Association that seeks to be a watchful guardian for the well-being of the Police family.
