Crossover from Police to SADD
Today on the blog we hear from Sandra Dacey (our Upper North Island Delivery Lead), all about her transition into her current role with SADD/Kaitiaki o Ara!
Kia ora koutou,
In March 2022, after 15 years service to the New Zealand Police, I decided to take a leap of faith and resign. I was a sworn officer and my last role was a School Community Officer in Manurewa, Counties Manukau, Auckland.
This wasn't an easy decision but it was one full of hope and wonder. It took guts and I needed to have the confidence and strength to know I could adapt after so long. I had given so much of myself to the police, I felt it was all I knew and making a big change later in life (well into my 40s) was a bit daunting.
I am now a Programme Delivery Lead in the Upper North Island for SADD/Kaitiaki o Ara. I reside in Auckland and cover the Far North, Northland, Auckland and regularly help out in the Waikato region.
Coming from the police has been really beneficial for me in my new role. It has allowed me to utilise my road safety knowledge through my own experiences in the police. I spent a number of months on the Road Policing team and have attended multiple crashes. I have dealt with offending drivers, victims and witnessed fatal crashes. I am also aware of the challenges young people face these days when it comes to making safe road choices.
My ability to connect with police while working for SADD has been really helpful. I have found myself attending SADD workshops with my old police colleagues and road safety coordinators from councils. I am aware of the pressures police face, the need to give plenty of notice and how staffing, deployment and workgroups operate. This means I am able to change my approach when requesting support for student SADD groups in our schools. It also means I can pop my police hat back on when students are asking for advice (to a limit of course, I am careful with that)!
I love that my new role with SADD allows me to work with young people which is what I was doing before, but in a different way. It is also really great to collaborate with police in areas I’m unfamiliar with. This means some travel and understanding the needs of different communities. It’s motivating working with young people because they are super creative and can really put a positive perspective on life.
Here's what Katie Spraggon, Deputy Principal of Manurewa High School has to say:
We as a kura have previously worked with Sandra in her School Community Officer (SCO) role in the NZ Police so the transition has been very smooth for us. Sandra has a good understanding of the Manurewa Community so this has allowed our experience to be localised which allows for greater student connection and engagement. Sandra is able to offer students a deeper understanding through the SADD programme as she links into the Police mahi that she did previously and is able to speak to this through both lenses. We work with SADD through the Police Pathways Programme (PPP) currently so Sandra’s ability to explicitly link the SADD mahi to the PPP mahi has meant that students are able to understand the significance of this work in different ways.
The connection that Sandra had with the local Police staff also meant that the opportunities to work together were able to run smoothly and didn’t require the relationship building between the 2 organisations as it already existed – Sandra was able to smoothly link into the Manurewa Police team as required to engage in the planning of our initiatives and also to be present on the day that we connected with our Year 9 students and shared our activities and learnings. The road safety knowledge that comes with Sandra’s Police background is also invaluable in this process as she is able to speak to what happens in this space from a Police perspective too and provide on the job stories that support the learning that is taking place.
Sandra has been able to speak to and share her own experiences through her journey in the NZ Police and through the Manurewa community that speaks to the importance and significance of this work.