The expansion, which followed a review of the Police’s Safer People team, has contributed to a new breed of PEOs. They are all highly qualified and many have come to Police from the world of high-performance sport.

One of the newer members is 33-year-old Pat Taylor, the recently appointed physical education team leader, based at the Police College. PEO manager Sean Tagg is based in Auckland.

Pat, who has a background in physiotherapy, previously spent five years as the Southern district PEO. With an original skill set in physio and rehab, he says he had a lot to learn about exercise when he started, and about the PCT – the 10-obstacle physical competency test that all constabulary staff, senior sergeant and below, must pass every two years to remain deployable.

The test was introduced in 1985 – “two years before I was born” – implemented by the pioneering PEOs of the day in response to failings in police fitness highlighted during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour.

Although there have been a few tweaks to the test over the years, and some debate about its application, it remains firmly embedded in New Zealand policing.

“Argument about physical standards is understandable,” says Pat, “but the PCT has been externally assessed as being at an appropriately challenging level. Increased fitness is important for several reasons – it makes people healthier, more able to excel in their work, less prone to injury and more able to enjoy life outside of work. I see the PCT as a real asset to our organisation.”

However, the old-school drill sergeant techniques for pushing people around the course have changed.

Over the past decade or so, the former compliance-based, military-style model of fitness training in Police has been evolving.

Pat says one of the biggest hurdles for staff, and for PEOs, is the stress that doing the PCT can cause for members. “Although there is still a pass-fail component, we want to reduce that stress and make it as comfortable and as safe as possible.”

It’s part of a culture shift around Police health and fitness.

“Our PEOs are highly empathetic. We really care and do our best for staff,” says Pat.

“If you want a healthier and fitter workforce, you need to play the long game to build relationships and trust.”

Building those relationships is challenging, however, when you have a constabulary staff of more than 10,000. Each PEO is responsible for between 700 and 1000 staff, many of whom only see their PEO on PCT day.

“With ratios like that, we have to be realistic about how we can tailor support and advice, but we do want to connect with as many staff as possible to find out who might need in-depth assistance. We want to make the experience as pleasant as possible, put staff at ease.”

It’s part of the PEO’s job is to find the unfit or stressed-out people before they get to the PCT course.

“If you don’t pass on practice day, it allows our PEO team to work you with to identify what areas need to be worked on.”

Pat notes that police as a group are healthier than the average population – “we have good material to work with” – which is probably why there are relatively few staff requiring “remedial” assistance at any one time.

“Generally, very few are just unfit without other complications, such as recovering from illness or surgery.”

However, with Police officers already dealing with a stressful job, and shift work, that can reduce their ability to recover.

The key parts of the PEO role are testing staff and recruit fitness levels, exercise training advice for “remedials” and providing health, wellbeing and fitness information.

Because the team can’t hope to reach all staff individually, the PEOs are looking at novel ways to delivering information to staff.

Pat says it can be difficult getting good information out to staff, “trying to counteract a lot of misinformation that’s out there from a multimillion-dollar fitness industry”.

The Wellness Hub has been a crucial tool to counteract that, he says. More than 50 per cent of Police staff have signed up to the hub since it was launched in 2019, accessing health advice and information on fitness and nutrition and sharing their own stories of health and wellbeing.

During the Covid-19 lockdown period, PEOs working remotely were able to continue connecting with staff using the hub to post online workout videos and advice.

Pat’s exercise ethos

Pat’s own sporting background is primarily in “grappling”, taking part in judo, wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu from a young age. His exercise of choice now that he is married with two young sons is running. Pat’s guiding principle for exercise and health is “the basics done well and consistently”.

“Sometimes people get too hung up on the details and the differences between various exercise and diet strategies, rather than looking at the common ground. Exercise enough in a way you enjoy, eat an appropriate quantity of decent food, get enough sleep, and have some fun. As long as you are consistently ticking those boxes, you’re probably getting 90 per cent of the benefit of a perfectly structured (and probably boring and hard-to-stick to) programme.”

Meet the team

Kelly McCallum

(Northland)

Joined 2018 – Master of Educational Leadership; lectures for AUT and NorthTec in the AUT Bachelor of Sport and Recreation degree course. Captained the Canadian women’s rugby team in two World Cups; first women’s rugby player to be inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.

Karma McGowan

(Waitemata)

Joined 2018 – Bachelor of Sport (Coaching) and Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology; a fitness industry professional for 20 years, including working as an educator with Drug Free Sport NZ.

Mark Harvey

(Auckland)

Joined 2020 – Worked with sports teams for the past 20 years, recently as a strength and conditioning coach with the All Blacks and the NZ Warriors. Previously in the Navy.

Rhonda Lee

(Counties Manukau)

Joined 2005 – Bachelor of Sport (Coaching). Represented New Zealand in trampoline and triathlon. Competes in ironman races and ultra-run events. Has previously been a Police wellness adviser.

Leighton James

(Counties Manukau)

Joined 2017 – A former international football coach, he has worked in the health and fitness industry for more than 20 years. Into rock climbing, trail running, stand-up paddleboarding and surfing.

Thomas Maguren

(Tāmaki Makaurau constabulary recruitment)

Joined 2017 – Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science; three times New Zealand amateur kickboxing champion before transitioning to the professional ranks where he still competes.

Shoneen Dix

(Tāmaki Makaurau constabulary recruitment)

Joined 2017 – Bachelor of Sport and Recreation; completing a Master of Sport and Exercise degree. Has competed regionally and nationally in surf lifesaving and ocean swimming events.

Shayne Harvey

(Waikato)

Joined 2003 – Bachelor of Exercise Physiology, majoring in strength and conditioning/rehabilitation. His hobbies include classic cars and motorcycles.

Iripa (Alister) Rangi

(Bay of Plenty)

Joined 2018 – Bachelor of Exercise Science (AUT), Postgraduate Sport and Exercise Diploma. Personal trainer, group exercise instructor and former strength and conditioning coach with the New Zealand Warriors, New Zealand Rugby League, Auckland Rugby and Waitakere Netball.

Rebecca Tegg

(Eastern)

Joined 2019 – Bachelor of Sport and Recreation, Master of Health Science (physical activity and nutrition). Former New Zealand representative football player and competed at the 2008 Olympic Games. Previous roles in the public health sector.

Ryan Daniel

(Central)

Joined 2013 – Bachelor of Physical Education (Otago); special interest in exercise science and prescription fields. Former competitive swimmer.

Daniel Tarapi

(Wellington)

Joined 2013 – Bachelor of Physical Education (Otago); previously worked in the fitness industry and represented New Zealand
in softball.

Alex Way

(Tasman)

Joined 2018 – Bachelor of Sport and Recreation; an accredited rugby union and judo coach and specialist in strength and
conditioning (named South Island’s
3rd Strongest Man 2015).

Glen Robertson

(Christchurch)

Joined 2011 – Bachelor of Physical Education (Otago) and Bachelor of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (Lincoln), secondary teaching qualification. Involved in the health, fitness and recreation industry for more than 20 years.

Sean Richardson

(Southern)

Joined 2021 – Bachelor and postgraduate degrees in Sport and Exercise Science (AUT) tailored to law enforcement and tactical strength and conditioning. Has won international medals representing New Zealand in karate.

The former compliance-based, military-style model of fitness training in Police has been evolving.