A visit from a Police dog in training!

Towards the end of Term 2, Year 10 Integrated Studies students explored the concept of Human Rights. Students spent several weeks learning about what constitutes human rights, how we are addressing this concept on a global scale in 2020 and what are some of the challenges facing humans in improving our rights to reflect a more caring world.

The George Floyd case, which began to unfold in the USA, as we were exploring this topic, provided much discussion about the role of police in society. This coupled with the New Zealand tragedy of the shooting of Constable Matthew Hunt in the same month, brought the issue very close to home. Students began to ask questions about how much power should police have in society, looking at both sides of the issue from the perspective of victims and those in control. To provide a balanced picture, Constable Carly Tyler, a School Community Officer and ex Avonside student, was invited to speak to our class about her experiences in the police force over the past ten years. As well as this, she answered a range of questions from students about the role of the police in New Zealand, police and police dog fatalities and what is involved in becoming a police officer.

Students spent several lessons preparing their questions for Constable Tyler. The process of selecting questions to put to her in a class forum was fascinating and the range of these questions was impressive. Students questions examined the contexts of racism, human rights, gun laws, capital punishment, vocational opportunities available in the police force, as well as the personal impacts of policing in New Zealand.

Constable Tyler’s interaction with the group was friendly and natural. Students were able to see the person behind the uniform, taser gun, baton and bullet-proof vest. An hour and a half of discussion with our students went incredibly fast. We also had a surprise visitor towards the end of the session, which was ‘the icing on the cake’ for students and teachers alike. Four month old Sarge, a German Shepherd puppy, and his new handler came to visit us and delighted all the girls. Questions about at what age do the police start training their dogs, what happens to puppies who don’t make the grade and how can people become dog handlers were popular discussion points.

The feedback from the visit was overwhelmingly positive. Meeting Constable Tyler had allowed students to talk through incidents that affect them in New Zealand, beginning with the wider global issue of human rights in the USA and moving closer to home with our own challenges in New Zealand.

As a footnote to this visit, ten students expressed real interest in possibly pursuing a career in the police force in the future.