Shepherd is the Taup\u014d community constable, Bay of Plenty police area lead for search and rescue and a member of the national Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team.<\/p>\n
But his path there was not inevitable. The farm kid from Reporoa almost traded policing for a career in surveying.<\/p>\n
It took a visit from a recruiting sergeant at Reporoa College to put the idea back into his head, and after that, Shepherd said, \u201cthere was no going back\u201d.<\/p>\n
At 17, he joined the police cadet course, completing an 11-month \u201cin-depth\u201d training programme.<\/p>\n
He was stationed in central Auckland on Boxing Day 1977 and sworn in as a police constable later that year when he turned 19, walking the \u201cstandard\u201d beat along Queen St and Karangahape Rd.<\/p>\n
Two years later, he transferred to Kawerau, then moved to Taup\u014d in 1983, a place he said \u201cfelt like home\u201d. He has remained there since.<\/p>\n
Senior Constable Barry Shepherd (left) and St John Ambulance paramedic Tony More (right) assist a schoolboy who slipped and was injured at Red Crater on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in 2017.<\/p>\n
By 1986, Shepherd had become involved in search and rescue, drawn to the work and the opportunity to specialise. When the national Disaster Victim Identification team was formally established in the early 2000s, he applied and was accepted.<\/p>\n
It was the kind of work he described simply as helping people on their \u201cbad days\u201d. <\/p>\n
Can \u2018shed a tear\u2019 but \u2018the emotional ownership is not mine\u2019<\/p>\n
Disaster Victim Identification was \u201cnot for everybody\u201d.<\/p>\n
There were not many \u201cyoung people\u201d on the national team, suggesting to him that \u201cperhaps a bit of wisdom\u201d helped people deal with the work\u2019s confronting nature.<\/p>\n
He said it was an unusual part of policing to speak fondly about, but the systems, processes and teamwork were what made it work \u2013 and \u201cbringing people down to their families is always pretty satisfying\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shepherd was the scene phase co-ordinator for the Mauao landslide recovery, which is the first stage of the DVI process and focused on recovery work at the site before victims were taken for formal identification.<\/p>\n
Every disaster was unique, and Shepherd said responses were guided by training and preparation, meaning teams were always \u201cready to go\u201d.<\/p>\n
As one of those \u201cin a blue uniform\u201d, he said he still had \u201cthe ability to shed a tear\u201d alongside families who had lost loved ones, but he worked by a consistent philosophy: \u201cThe emotional ownership of those losses is not mine\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about our egos\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my profession, this is my speciality, and I am there to do a good job for those grieving families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those \u201cgrieving, loving families\u201d were what kept him coming to work each day. <\/p>\n
Senior Constable Barry Shepherd addresses media at a January 24 press conference at Mount Maunganui during recovery efforts following the campground landslide. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n
Shepherd said he had seen people respond to tragedy in different ways \u2013 some lost control, others shut down, many were simply overwhelmed as they waited for answers.<\/p>\n
Professional distance allowed him to do the work. He said it would be \u201ca very different story\u201d if it were one of his own three children.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoodness knows how [I\u2019d] react\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said he held \u201cgreat admiration\u201d for the digger drivers at Mauao, who spent nearly two weeks searching for the deceased \u2013 a task that was never part of their job description.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s changed those guys forever\u201d. <\/p>\n
Shepherd said his \u201cbiggest supporter\u201d was his wife, who worked as a nurse. The pair often \u201cbounced off each other\u201d after difficult days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe keep each other grounded.\u201d <\/p>\n
Some believed it was better to switch off completely from work, but Shepherd said those conversations were part of how he and his wife managed the weight that came with their jobs.<\/p>\n
What Shepherd believes it takes to be a police officer<\/p>\n
Shepherd said he was often asked what qualities a person needed to become a police officer.<\/p>\n
There was no special personality requirement, he said, proven by the 10,000 officers across the country doing the same job. <\/p>\n
But he did have three non-negotiables: be prepared to make sacrifices, work shift hours, and learn to write a good report.<\/p>\n
Police respond to calls for service \u201cregardless of what the call is\u201d. Missing a family function could be the trade-off for a job that rarely ran to normal hours, Shepherd said.<\/p>\n