NZESF Memorial Page

A tribute to those who have lost their lives for their cause...


Police Memorial Prayer

Selflessly we give of ourselves to aid others regardless of any pain wemay feel. On our shoulders we carry the burden of protecting those inneed. We share that burden with those standing next to us.

Westand against forces who would seek the destruction of others. Andthough we may never meet those beside us, regardless we stand united,shouldering the load together through thick and thin...standing as colleagues...as friends...as brother and sister.

We are unified because only those that choose to carry this burden know the pain and sacrifice required.

Despite this loss we will go on standing together.Through your loss we will be linked even closer, and the blue line willcarry on unbroken...but there will forever be a gap in our hearts thatwill never be filled.

Rest in peace my brother. The burden isno longer yours to carry. May you go on to a reward reserved only forthose who give their lives to protect another.

Pray the Lord strengthen those who remain.



  • 1845: Sergeant Garvey died an a blizzard at Ranfurly, Central Otago on his way to inspect mine diggings near Naseby.
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  • September, 1851: an unknown constable drowned in Lyttelton harbour when the Lady Nugent capsized. The same launch capsized two months later, drowning two more people.
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  • May 28, 1865: Constable John Duncan drowned while travelling in a punt to investigate a burglary on the West Coast near Kaniere.
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  • July 30, 1890: police constable Neil McLeod,44, is believed to have been the first killing of a New Zealand policeman on duty when Gumdigger Henry Funcke had been removed from a passenger steamer after his rifle was taken from him. In a fit of rage when he was put ashore, he pulled out a hidden pistol and fired at the departing steamer. One of his bullets hit the Dargaville offier in the chest and he died instantly.
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  • April 14, 1910: Sergeant John Patrick Hackett McGuire, 42, died from gunshot wounds three days after he was shot in the stomach during a manhunt for escaped prisoner John Joseph Pawelka.
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  • February 5, 1913: Constable John Doyle, 35, died in hospital four days after being assaulted during a scuffle with two men in the Albany Hotel, Shannon.
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  • 1916: Constable A J Dillon drowned on the West Coast trying to save a woman from drowning.
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  • October 6, 1919: Constable Vivian Dudding, 32, was shot in the head when he attended a domestic dispute in Thorndon, Wellington. He died in hospital an hour later.
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  • August 27, 1921: Constable James Dorgan, 37, was shot by an unidentified gunman when he investigated a break-in at Timaru. The killer was never found.
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  • October, 1933: Constable James Shields died when his car was hit by the Rotorua Express at a rail crossing near Huntly.
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  • October 21, 1934: Constable Thomas Heeps, 50, died in Waikato Hospital after he was shot twice near Otorohanga by Henare Hona who was being hunted after shooting dead four people.
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  • August, 1935: Constable Charles Williams, drowned in the Waikato River trying to save a woman who had fallen from the Hamilton Railway Bridge.
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  • August, 1939: Constable W J Watt died in a road accident near Waimate as he drove to Redcliff to investigate a shooting.
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  • October 8, 1941: Sergeant William Cooper, 43, Constable Frederick William Jordan, 26, Constable Percy Campbell Tulloch, 35, and Constable Edward Mark Best, 42, all became victims of Stanley Graham, the West Coast farmer who shot several people after refusing to hand over his firearms. By the end of the largest manhunt in New Zealand history, seven people, including Graham, had died. Another of his victims died 17 months later from gunshot wounds.
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  • January 31, 1949: Traffic Officer John Kehoe, 24, was shot several times by Richard Angus McGill in Whakatane. He died soon after.
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  • May 27, 1951: Sergeant William Shore Hughes, 48, was shot dead during a domestic dispute at Otaki by Noema Raana Rika.
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  • January 6, 1963: Detective Sergeant Neville Wilson Power, 25, and Detective Inspector Wallace Chalmers, 46, were both shot by Victor George Wasmuth when they attended a shooting in west Auckland. Wasmuth also shot dead a neighbour and wounded another man.
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  • February 3, 1963: Constable James Thomas Richardson, 24, and Constable Bryan Leslie Schultz, 21, died instantly when they were shot as they sat in their police car after answering a call to a domestic dispute in Lower Hutt.
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  • August 15, 1966: Constable Donald Richard Stokes, 23, died in Dunedin Hospital after being beaten by escaping prisoners in the Dunedin police station cells.
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  • February 4, 1970: Sergeant Gilbert Peter Arcus, 44, died in Tauranga Hospital from head injuries after falling off a chair as he tried to placate a mentally disturbed woman through the window of a locked room.
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  • September 25, 1976: Constable Peter William Murphy, 21, was shot when he attended a break-in at an Invercargill sports shop.
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  • February, 1976: Alan Liddell drowned in the Grey River as he carried out tests for a murder trial.
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  • June 13, 1977: Traffic Officer Barry Yorston Gibson, 32, was assaulted by a motorist and died of head injuries in Taranaki Base Hospital.
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  • April 7, 1986: Traffic Officer Robin James Dudding, 44, was shot dead after he was taken hostage by Ross Kameta. Traffic Officer Dudding was later awarded a posthumous George Medal for bravery.
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  • July, 1986: Senior Sergeant Phil Ward and Constable Glen Hughes drowned when the police launch Lady Elizabeth capsized in Wellington Harbour.
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  • May 27, 1990: Senior Constable Peter Morris Umbers, 35, was bashed with his own baton when he stopped Richard Thomas Lakich near Ranfurly, Central Otago. Mr Umbers was awarded the posthumous George Medal for bravery.
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  • December, 1990: Detective Tony Harrod died after falling from a helicopter sling during cannabis recovery in Waitotara Valley, in Taranaki.
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  • November 13, 1990: Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthrie, 41, died at Aramoana when he was shot by gunman David Malcolm Gray who shot dead 12 other people. Mr Guthrie was awarded the posthumous George Medal.
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  • 1993: Sergeant Lou Grant and Constable Alastair Simpson died when their police helicopter Eagle and a traffic spotter plane collided over Auckland's motorway system, sending both aircraft plunging on to the motorway during peak-hour traffic.
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  • April 21, 1996: Constable Glenn Arthur McKibbin, 25, was shot as he stood beside his police patrol car in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere. He died on the way to hospital. Former soldier Terence Thompson was later found in a Havelock North orchard and shot dead by police.
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  • May 27, 1999: Mangakino constable Lester Murray Stretch, 38, was bashed to death in the small Waikato town by Carlos Namana.
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  • July 5, 2002: Feilding Detective Constable Duncan Taylor fatally shot by a teenager during a confrontation at a Rongotea farmhouse.
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  • July11, 2008: Sergeant Derek Wootton was killed while setting road spikes to stop a fleeing car involved in a kidnapping.  The vehicle struck Sergeant Wootton killing him.
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  • September 11, 2008 - Waimauku Sergeant Don Wilkinson shot after he wasdisturbed planting a tracking device on a vehicle outside a suspectedillegal drugs lab in Mangere East, South Auckland.
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  • May 7th, 2009 - Senior Constable Len Snee was shot dead in a routine cannabis bust, his last act in 33 years of police service.





Current date/time is Tue Mar 19, 2024 8:38 am