[lespice]

Hi everyone; I am currently living in the States and work in Law Enforcement and my sweetie lives in New Zealand... Before I can even think about a life there with him; I need to figure out how to go about it and how long it will take and if it's possible to work as a police officer in NZ.

I have no idea where to even begin... please help...
Thank you in advance...

:exit

[tea drinker]

Hello and welcome from me :)

Someone will soon be along with all the relevant websites to look at and I'm sure that someone on here is a Police Officer...so hopefully they will read your post as well.

[Kitten Witten]

Hello there :) and welcome,

Just a quick note - you might be best re-posting your question in the 'Introductions' or the 'Emigrate NZ Community' sections as it might get a bigger response :nice1

Anyway I think that your first port of call should be the main INZ website:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/ as it has a lot of useful info on it and all the forms etc. you will eventually need. You just need to dedicate some time to have a proper look through.

and then your closest branch website (scroll down to the bottom of the page and it lists a few branches in the USA) will also have some additional useful info on typical processing times and regional-specific info to your location:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/contactus/

One question - Is your OH an NZ resident? If so definitely look into whether you are eligible to apply for a partnership visa and if he's eligible to sponsor you as it's likley to be the most sensible route if you qualify:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/live/partner/canimovetonz/whatisrequired/

If not you'll need to look at the other streams through the 'work' or 'live' links on the main INZ website to see if you are eligible.

Happy reading and good luck :)

[JandM]

Here http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-23553.html is an old thread that may be of interest. If you use the Search button on the blue bar above, you should find other mentions.

Yes, is your man a Kiwi, or someone of another nationality with residency, or a work visa? Also, have you had a live-in relationship with one another, and if so, for how long? Sorry if this sounds intrusive, but those issues all make a difference as to which regulations will apply in your case.

BTW, welcome to the forum. :)

[constablechuck]

Hi everyone; I am currently living in the States and work in Law Enforcement and my sweetie lives in New Zealand... Before I can even think about a life there with him; I need to figure out how to go about it and how long it will take and if it's possible to work as a police officer in NZ.

I have no idea where to even begin... please help...
Thank you in advance...

:exit

I worked in law enforcement in Pennsylvania prior to moving to NZ. I'm not a Police Officer here in NZ but I do work in the justice system.

To answer your question, yes you can work as a Police Officer in NZ if you have permanent residency (which if your partner is a NZ citizen he can likely sponsor you. The NZ Police are hiring, you would need to live here, have PR and pass all the testing / assessments. Not hard if your in good physical condition.

Now, here's the big thing you need to understand. The culture of law enforcement in NZ is very different from that in the U.S. If you do move to NZ and get a job as a Police Officer you will likely struggle with the differences, and perhaps become very unhappy. In NZ they Police by consent, I haven't completely figured out what that means but I think it's the reason that the NZ public are permitted to treat Police badly and get away with it, the reason that frontline officers are not generally permitted to carry a firearm and the reason that criminals "feelings" are more important than officer safety. The courts are often very lenient on persistent offenders, short sentences and home monitoring are often given for very serious crimes. Youth crime is a big problem, in NZ there is no such thing as a criminal under the age of 17, the system here will do everything in it's power to protect youth offenders from the consequences of their crimes, they don't lock youth offenders up (or at least not the way you think of it in the U.S.) and the safety of the community always seems to come second to what the youth and their family want.

So, to sum it up Law Enforcement and the justice system in NZ is NOT the same as in the U.S. My advice is, if you move to NZ find another career because you would always in your mind be comparing the differences and become miserable at the loss of authority, respect and tools that your used to.

[RJLink]

Chuck, that's very interesting. Thanks for posting.

There's certainly a lack of will to do much about the boy racer problem (or is that slowly changing?). But the U.S. has a similar (and worse) problem with the Harley/motorcycle noise, and there is zero political will to do anything about it.

[constablechuck]

I have lived all over the U.S. and I don't recall noise from Harley Davidsons being a major problem. There is of course the odd noisy bike that you might encounter now and again but nothing too serious. There are laws against excessive noise from vehicles and the operator can be given a ticket. The noise whether from exhaust or music can be measured using a decibal meter. I suppose if you lived near the clubhouse of a biker club then it might be an issue.

The U.S. also has it's own version of boy racers, whether or not you encounter problems really depends on where you live. The U.S. is a very big and diverse place.

The primary difference I see is in the enforcement tools given to courts and law enforcement in the U.S. and NZ.

In NZ someone can rack up thousands in unpaid fines but will not lose their drivers license, the only thing they have to worry about is a court bailiff trying to seize their property to satisfy the civil debt incurred from the fines.

In the U.S. (each state may vary a bit) but generally any unpaid fines results in suspension of your driving priviledges, and if your caught driving while suspended you can be arrested and have your car impounded. The courts can sentence you to jail for driving while suspended. In Pennsylvania a delinquent fine automatically results in suspension of driving priviledge and a warrant for the persons arrest. If they can't pay they will be arrested and brought in front of the judge who can put them in jail or put them on a payment plan. Fail to stick with the payment plan and another warrant is issued etc..

So both the U.S. and NZ have similar problems, the difference is in the enforcement powers available to curb those problems.