Tough jobs make great teachers - Focus on Lyn Provost

This month Deputy Commissioner Lyn Provost vacates the post she has held for eight years to take up her new role as Auditor-General of New Zealand.

Deputy Commissioner Lyn Provost Photo: NZ Police

From a very early age Lyn was clear about her aspirations and the direction her career would take.

As a school girl in Gisborne, she avoided the traditional academic path of study, foregoing Latin and French to concentrate on subjects to help her achieve her goal of becoming an accountant.

On completion of her accountancy degree, Lyn took a job in the Auditor-General’s office and has had her eye on the top role ever since.

In 2001 she became the first female non-sworn Deputy Commissioner of New Zealand Police.

Lyn is keen to dispel any idea that being a non-sworn female made it any more difficult to take up a role within the Police Executive.

“It is a mark of the professionalism of the people I work with that from the outset they were open, supportive and willing to teach me about policing,” she says.

Lyn’s first task was to ground the organisation with the management skills she brought with her into the role.

To do this effectively, it was critical she understood the ‘business’ of policing.

In her first few months she went out to the frontline, riding along in I-cars and talking to frontline officers. She found out what it was like at a scene, what was involved in putting together an investigation file, how search and rescue actually works and what’s involved in writing a ticket.

Lyn was also keen to find out what the issues were on the ground, to see if these mirrored what the bosses thought they were.

“A really important part of being a boss in policing is to understand what the frontline are thinking and how they are receiving the communications we are sending out.

“We must understand what they need to do the job,” says Lyn.

“Over the years I have had some great debates with groups of staff, sergeants in particular, who have been very forthright in their views about what police should and shouldn’t be doing.

“I have always been upfront with people about what we can and what we can’t do. If we can’t do it, I have said so.”

During her time with police, Lyn visited every police station in the country.

While she couldn’t meet every police officer, she attended most of the 64 graduations in the past eight years and met many of the 4000 new police officers who passed through the Police College in that time.

Lyn says for her the best times in police and worst times in police are essentially the same.

“At the times of greatest challenge and tragedy, the professionalism, courage and compassion of police employees comes to the fore. At each of these events I have experienced mixed emotions: intense pride in the organisation and deep sadness for the tragedy.”

Lyn also takes great pride in what Police has achieved since her arrival. Thirty-two police stations have been opened and the car fleet has been replaced with all cars now carrying the new livery.

A key achievement for Lyn was the successful introduction of the Policing Act 2008 and the Code of Conduct, which outlines the expected behaviour and performance levels required for all staff. “The Commission of Inquiry was a difficult period for Police, but I think we have seen some really positive behavioural and attitudinal shifts as a result of it,” she says.

“As a group of people and as an organisation, we have rebuilt morale.”

During her time Lyn has overseen the successful introduction of the NIA computer system and the secure digital radio system, already rolled out in Wellington District, is soon to be expanded to Auckland and Canterbury.

She is very proud of the renewed commitment made to community policing and recalls that after only three months in the job she realised that policing was not the function of only one agency. “Police need to work with partners. Our relationships with other agencies have got much stronger over the last eight years.

“I am also pleased at the focus on family violence. The message ‘family violence is not OK’ is getting out, with victims increasingly willing to come forward and make a complaint to police. It also means we are able to help many more people, including innocent and vulnerable children.”

Other things Lyn believes Police does well include providing a raft of leadership courses to staff and the world-class dog breeding and training programme.

There have been many moments that have had a great impact on Lyn in the last eight years, including the burial of the late Māori Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu on Taupiri.

Lyn recalls the emotion of standing on the sacred mountain watching the late Queen’s casket being ferried to the burial site along the Waikato river.

When asked what she will take to her new role as Auditor-General, Lyn provides a comprehensive list including the way she has seen police officers deal with people in difficult circumstances; an admiration of people who are perpetually in the public glare; the respect she has witnessed from communities for their police officers; the realisation that moving a big organisation in a new direction does not happen overnight, but it can happen; and finally a mental picture of a number of faces who are destined to be what she describes as ‘the stunning leaders of the future’.

A key message that Lyn wants to leave with all police is how important it is to actively listen to the community.

“It is important not only to understand problems and issues but to really stop and listen to what people are saying.

“People tell you so much that is useful not just now, but for the future.”

Lyn is very keen to publicly acknowledge the unstinting support of her husband Paul and her two children. “Bringing up two teenagers as Deputy Commissioner of Police requires a lot of support and understanding. I am very grateful to the three of them and to my wider family and friends,” she says.

Even though she has now attained the position she has aspired to for so long, Lyn found it very difficult to sign her resignation letter to the Prime Minister. The final draft sat unsigned on her desk all day before she could pick up the pen and sign away a job she has cared about so passionately.

The letter included the words: “It has been a privilege serving New Zealand in this important agency of state. I believe New Zealand Police is well positioned for the future and as a country we are extremely fortunate to have the services and commitment of the 11,500 police employees who provide safety and security to communities across the length and breadth of New Zealand.”