It’s been a race against the clock for a long-serving Southland police officer as he relocates to take up a new posting in the Marlborough Sounds.

Constable Jim Mangos has served the Southland region for the past 21 years but on Monday is due to start a new job at the other end of the South Island. 

Mr Mangos and his wife Lynley had been planning yesterday’s move for months (Wednesday March 25th). After purchasing a house in Picton three years ago, they had always thought how much they’d like to live there. When a job came up with the Picton police, Mr Mangos said he just had to take it. 

They had everything arranged for the move. The removal company would come and collect all their belongings and they would drive up the South Island from Winton to their new home. 

However, when the Prime Minister’s announcement came that the country was to go into a four-week self-isolation in just 48 hours, it was a race to get everything organised. 

The couple was due to arrive in Picton this afternoon. Unfortunately, their furniture hasn’t been so lucky – the removal company only made it as far as Christchurch before being forced to cease business activities for the lock-down period. 

As their new house won’t have any furniture, Mr Mangos said the police had managed to organise a holiday home in Picton for the couple to stay in where they can self-isolate for four weeks or more.

“We’re still so fortunate though, the police have been amazing and we’re very lucky to have somewhere to stay,” Mrs Mangos said. 

As a police constable, Mr Mangos is an essential worker so he will be starting his police duties in Picton on Monday, as planned.

It’s been a whirlwind start to Mr Mangos’s new life and job already, but he said he’s in good spirits and is leaving behind very fond memories of his time as a police officer in Southland. 

He joined the police in 1998. He began his career in Invercargill where he worked for 11 months before he was asked to do some relief work in Winton – a “relief” stint that turned out to be a little longer than expected. 

Weeks turned into months and then years. Aside from a “couple of years” working in Otautau, he said has spent almost 20 years working in Winton, a town which became extremely dear to him and one he’ll never forget.  

“He’s the longest reliever they’ve ever had,” Mrs Mangos said. 

Mr Mangos said he has many fond memories of the south, but what he would miss most was the people. 

“I’m going to miss it. The Southland community is fabulous. Everyone is so supportive,” he said. 

Mr Mangos said the key thing he’d learnt about what makes a good police officer was the ability to relate to people. 

“You have to treat people how you want to be treated. You have to treat them the same,” he said. 

He said the best piece of advice he could give to a new officer coming up through the ranks was that “no question is a dumb question.” He encouraged them to be inquisitive and eager to learn. 

There have been some hard days on the job for Mr Mangos too. When he first started in Winton, there was only one sergeant, one detective and one other constable, aside from himself. 

So, a big part of Mr Mangos’s job has been to attend the emergency call-outs, and he’s been to a fair few over the years. He said telling families they’d lost a loved one had been the most challenging aspect of the job.

He also said that the rural police couldn’t properly attend to all emergencies without support from rural emergency response services. These were mostly volunteer organisations, such as St John Ambulance and the fire brigade.

“It couldn’t happen without them, they’re just vital. We’re there alongside them but they take the lead. We’d be pretty buggered without them,” he said. 

His boss, Senior Sergeant Pete Graham, has worked with Mr Mangos throughout most of his career.  

Mr Graham said Mr Mangos had a great ability to connect with people.

“He’s a good police officer because he’s approachable, he’ll talk to anyone.” 

He said Mr Mangos had been heavily involved in supporting various aspects of the community. He’d worked with the RSA, had helped organise ANZAC day services in Winton, had served on the board of trustees at Winton Primary School and had supported the Midlands Rugby Club.

“It will be sad to see him go… but what’s our loss is Picton’s gain,” he said.