Detective Sergeant Neville Power was one of two Police officers shot in the Waitakere Ranges in January 1963, when they were called out to an incident involving a man firing shots at a dog kennel near Bethells Beach, in Waitakere.
The gunman was located in a nearby hillside cottage and when Power tried to discharge tear gas through a window, his pistol misfired and as he tried lobbing the gas through the window, he was shot at point blank range. Senior officer Detective Inspector Wallace Chalmers was shot while drawing attention away from unarmed Constable J.D. Langham who was trying to attend to Power. Both were killed by Victor George Wasmuth, who was later declared insane.
Twenty-five year-old Power came from a police family. The son of then Assistant Commissioner Orme Power, who had been listening to the Police radio reports when he learnt of his son’s death. His two brothers were also in the Police.
Neville was an active boy, growing up doing swimming and participating in Scouts. He also enjoyed music, playing the violin, and cryptic crosswords. A pastime he bonded over with his Father. Academically, he excelled, encouraged to pursue an education in Law but ultimately taking a job at the ANZ Bank before joining the police in 1956 at the age of 19.
After graduating he joined the Criminal Investigation Branch in 1958, and obtained detective status by the following year. His career was stellar, before his death he had been recommended for a promotion as Senior-Sergeant. The announcement was due to happen a week later, making him New Zealand’s youngest holder of that rank at the time.
Power had also met his wife Valerie when she was working in the Police Prosecutions office in Wellington. They had two children together.
Both Power and Chalmers were posthumously awarded the Queens Police Medal for gallantry, and the case led to the formation of the Armed Offenders Squads in the New Zealand Police.
Neville Wilson Power
Died 1963
