by Annelise Oosterbaan
Hannah Soli and her journey to becoming a constable
MGS — July 12, 2023
Article taken from The Press website
When constable Hannah Soli looks back on her journey to becoming a police officer, she recalls one moment which backtracked her application.
“It took me a very long time to get to police college. I got stood down for a year for a speeding ticket,” Soli said laughing.
“You have to be crystal clean...no one is above the law.”
Soli, 31, was six months through her application when she received the ticket, but it didn’t deter her from pursuing a career in policing, after more than a decade working with young people at Oranga Tamariki.
The born and raised Cantabrian officially starts as a police officer in Christchurch central next week, as part of the most recent graduating wing of 77 new front-line officers nationwide. Five have been deployed in Canterbury.
Before joining the police, Soli worked in various roles in Oranga Tamariki residential care, shift leading at both Te Oranga, the care and protection facility, and Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo youth justice facility.
The work involved caring and working with youth from as young as 10-years-old through to 18, some who are “coming down off drugs, involved with some serious crime, with no connections with their family, [and] experiencing trauma” she said.
“It is a 180 [degree career change], but I’ve seen young people, some were the worst of the worst, and I wanted to come in from a more preventative side,” she said.
Soli also fostered two teen girls through her community work with Oranga Tamariki and worked at Haeata Community Campus as a youth worker and administrator.
“My ultimate goal in the police is to work in the child protection unit, so I can be apart of potentially stopping them getting to that point.”
Hannah Soli has dedicated her working life to caring and supporting youth, and wishes to continue that further in a policing career.
“I just really love working with young people.”
Whilst describing herself as “young at heart”, Soli had previously ruled out policing as a career because of the required fitness level which she said is “a massive barrier for Pasifika women and men”.
“At the time I never thought about policing because of my size. I was quite large and I would never be able to pass the fitness aspect of things.”
Six months on from having her daughter Milika, now aged 6, Soli recalled a moment she “could barely get up” weighing 170kgs. It was a turning point that led to her to have gastric bypass surgery in April 2017, and lost 85kgs over the next 18 months.
Despite there being no height or weight requirements to join the force, the weight loss “opened up” the opportunity for Soli, and she worked towards the high level of fitness required to pass the entrance tests.
“I just really want to encourage Pasifika woman to get out there and start the journey to have more opportunity... to get out and have the confidence to start something.”
Of the graduating police wing 367, 35% are female, and 22% are Māori or Pasifika.
