Kiwi twin police officers Dwayne and Damion Davies with 40 years experience join Northern Territory force
Meet the Maori twin police officers who've traded New Zealand for the Northern Territory, drawn by cultural connections and outback policing.
When the opportunity to relocate to the Northern Territory arose, Dwayne and Damion Davies – twin police officers from New Zealand – quickly snatched it up.
With nearly 40 years of policing between them – Damion served as an officer in New Zealand for 19 years; Dwayne 17 and a half – both agreed it was time for a change.
“The timing was right,” said Damion, “and we wanted to do this journey together.”
“We’re extremely close, that’s what made the decision easy for us.
“This was something that we had to do together or we weren’t going to do at all.”
Pending the movements of Tropical Cyclone Fina, the brothers are set to graduate on Friday, November 21, having fast-tracked their training courtesy of their years of policing experience.
When searching for this lifestyle change, Damion, nicknamed ‘Bug’, said he, Dwayne and their families “didn’t look anywhere else” besides the Territory.
After the pair graduates, both will be deployed to Alice Springs, where Dwayne said they already had friends from New Zealand who spoke “very highly of the team there”.
“That makes it an easy transition – it’s a home away from home,” he said.
Damion said the Territory’s rich Indigenous heritage also drew them here, given both men are Maori, the Indigenous people of New Zealand.
“Maoris are the Indigenous heritage in New Zealand, and the strong Indigenous heritage here (in the NT) was a real stand out for us,” he said.
A father of seven, Dwayne said Darwin was a “beautiful place”, which helped with the decision.
“I’ve got two sons in the January 19th intake, so I’m excited to get my family involved,” he said.
“We’ve also got some friends and some ex-colleagues who are interested in coming up as well.”
The brothers agreed the most challenging part of the course was learning the different legislation and how things were done operationally and tactically in the Territory.
Damion said: “There are a lot of differences, even though there are some similarities.”
“But after many years in the police in New Zealand, I think we needed a revitalisation – and this was it.”
Asked what their favourite part of the course was, Dwayne said there was much to choose from, but the firearms course stood out.
As for Damion, he said the teaching environment was one of his favourite parts of the course.
As many Kiwi officers continue to be poached by the NT Police – mostly because of the Territory’s lucrative pay packets – the brothers said they encouraged more to sign on.
Damion said: “My message to back home is come here. It’s been a really good experience – sometimes the course does get tough, but it’s a really good environment.”
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Originally published as Kiwi twin police officers Dwayne and Damion Davies with 40 years experience join Northern Territory force
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