Station toddler returns in uniform

Campbell Coulton has been a police officer for only two months but already he's loving it.

The former soldier left his Hurleyville home age 18 to join the armed forces and travel overseas.

Knowing he wanted to get into the police, Mr Coulton was biding his time waiting for a local position by doing a double major in Political Science and International Relations. He is due to graduate at the end of next year.

"I want to combine that with policing," he says.

The officer's way of life is no stranger to Mr Coulton.

His father Keith Coulton was an officer in Hawera until the mid 1990's and he can remember running around the station as a toddler.

Hawera seemed the best station to get his feet on the ground. "I'm looking forward to developing the broad range of skills [needed here]," he says.

"We don't have the luxury of specialised units in Hawera so we have to learn to do each one."

It's hard to describe what he loves about policing.

"It's the whole range of responsibilities, it's having the responsibilities that we have been entrusted [with] and being able to use these day-to-day and being looked to as a problem solver," he says.

"It's just the type of job where you are always being mentally challenged." PETRA FINER - SOUTH TARANAKI STAR