It would be a long-drawn and protracted affair for the New Zealand Police in Christchurch and none of the executed and envisaged tasks would be enviable.
And none of the persons involved in the operations in Christchurch, including Constable Gurpreet Singh Arora from Counties Manukau District Police, who was on special duty in the devastated city, would have wished an assignment that involved rescue of people trapped in buildings raved by the Earthquake and now recovery of bodies trapped.
As a former Canterbury Policeman, he knows Christchurch City and its suburbs well and his expertise would be useful in the recovery operations.
These are occasions that tell you the lofty tasks that the Police perform; that they exist not just to enforce and maintain law and order but also save lives of people wherever possible; that they visit places and do things that we would not; and that they do more than just issue tickets for violating traffic rules.
They are in full force in Christchurch, with the best of men and women from around the country. They would remain there for a long time.
As we began preparing for this issue, Mr Broad said that the focus was to support the search and rescue operation led by Urban Search and Rescue (USAR).
But nature had willed differently; the rescue operation switched to recovery mode, with the Police with USAR on the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process to match the identification of bodies recovered with the forensic identity of those listed as missing.
The DVI team comprises experts from Queensland and China, who have been working with a team of more than 200 experts.
“There are about 80 staff working solely on producing forensic examination of those listed as missing. This is a highly complex process and there is no room for error,” he said.
Our Christchurch Correspondent Dr George Abraham reported major police presence at each of the cordons controlling access to the Central Business District, along with high visibility reassurance policing throughout the city.
Mr Broad said the post-quake City accounted for more than 300 officers from various parts of New Zealand working with officers in Christchurch in community reassurance, along with 323 police officers from Australia.
“Our priority is to support Christchurch staff, many of who have been working long hours and in very difficult circumstances since the earthquake.
“The Police have a huge welfare operation engaged in supporting our staff and this will be a requirement for a long time to come,” he said.
Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Dave Cliff spoke of the ‘overwhelming generosity and support’ from members of the public, the media and colleagues from emergency services since the earthquake struck.
“This support makes all the difference as we continue to work in such trying circumstances,” he said.
