A new top cop is on the beat in Cromwell.

Invercargill born Sergeant Regan Price is Cromwell's new officer in charge, a role he took on just one week ago.

He already had a passion for Central Otago after regularly holidaying in the district, but after 19 years of policing in Invercargill, relocating to Cromwell meant he was able to live in the best part of New Zealand.

“My family and I love camping and spending time in Central Otago.

"I’m looking forward to getting back into snowboarding now we are here."

Sgt Price's new role involves leading a team of six constables, who cover the wider area, incorporating halfway points to Queenstown, Wanaka and Alexandra and the Lindis Pass.

One week into his new role, he said he was enjoying a range of aspects including people management and investigating crimes.

He said his team’s key focuses were connected to three themes; roads, community and homes.  

“For roads – it’s speed on the highways.

"In the community we are building a partnership with the youth centre, spending time there and being available to young people.

“For homes, at the moment we’re seeing a bit of Facebook Marketplace fraud, so keeping yourself safe online is an important message.”

He said if people were looking at buying items on Facebook Marketplace they need to look for red flags such as a new profile, or a profile that does not have any friends.

If the seller wants payment into a bank account with a different name, or if the seller is very pushy to make a quick sale people should be particularly wary.

Sgt Price said residents should report any suspicious behaviour at any time of the day or night, straight away.

He said working on a crime prevention team for the past two years had been one of his career highlights.

“I helped to implement initiatives to reduce demands on frontline policing.

"One was an initiative to reduce impaired drivers – we worked with places where impaired drivers might stop on their journey.

"That meant training for staff members on how to spot intoxicated or impaired drivers and then how to report those drivers to police.”

He initially got into policing following in the footsteps of his father, who was a policeman for 40 years.

“I’ve also got cousins here and in [Australia] in the police.

"I joined for the usual reasons, just to do my bit and make things better.

There are a few other new faces in the police force across district, and The Central App will be introducing them to readers over the next few weeks. 

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