Shining his boots with a backside

He was the sort of cop that if you were going to get nicked, or arrested, you would prefer it be by him.

A straight talking no-nonsense cop, also an affable man and always a quip.

But for more than 20 years the former Senior Constable Richard Graeme Leigh-MacKenzie was the bane of errant school kids. He was the enforcer, the truant officer, more correctly, 'the attendance officer”.

'But, you know, there wasn't one of those kids that I thought: ‘God, if I never see that little shit again, it will be too soon'.”

A lot of truants, a lot of 'bad buggers” over many years but Graeme saw something redeeming in them all. 'In fact I really quite liked them.”

Perhaps it was just a wee bit of the devil in them that Graeme quietly admired, mischievous rather than plain bad. Perhaps it was a measure of the man, a former youth aid officer.

'No, not one truant I think I disliked.”

The role of truancy officer conjures an image of wayward kids being grabbed by the ear and led kicking and screaming back to where they don't want to be – school. 'That may have been how it used to be but certainly not what it is now. Probably because we aren't allowed to do that.”

Instead it's working with the families and the agencies, trying to get the kids reengaged with school.

Graeme, aka LeeMac, is talking to The Weekend Sun because the police officer-turned-attendance officer had made a pact with himself. 'I said once I got to dealing with the third generation of truants from just one family then that would be it. And I am just about there.”

So that's it – just about it. The attendance officer is surrendering his warrant. After 22 years he's turning from truancy to police gun licensing, from turning in recalcitrant schoolkids to turning in gun owners who aren't fit and proper to be such.

Graeme says truancy work has brought him in touch with some pretty amazing people. Like Judge David Wilson who, according to LeeMac, did things differently. 'The judge was well-known for his handling of a chap who called a policeman a pig. The offender served his sentence at a piggery.”

The dignity of the force was restored. That still tickles LeeMac.

It was also that judge who brought agencies, whanau and schools together to work with wayward kids. The judge got LeeMac's sidekick and eminent rugby referee Keith Lawrence to assist with the work. 'Great guy,” says Graeme.

'And there were a few backsides kicked back in those days.” It seemed to work, the kids responded. Did LeeMac kick butt? 'Probably have been known to give them the slipper, stick my foot out.” It's old cop speak for a swift kick in the backside. It was how things were done once-upon-a-time. 'And it seemed to work.”

But times have changes and kids have changed since he took up the job in 1994.

'Not for the better in many cases. Each generation gets worse because there are other factors like drugs that weren't an issue when I started.”

And when Graeme started, they wagged and got caught and it was a fair cop. He had done his job and the class shirker accepted his lot. 'Now if you want to take them back to school, they lie, they won't give you a name, they make things really difficult.” But nothing this gnarly old cop couldn't handle.

Like the skiver who wouldn't make eye contact, who would just shrug and grunt. Frustrating.

'He came from a gang family and he more or less had to seek permission from the gang to disassociate himself. But he got some very good support from his school, from his deans. He made Year 13, got a job and is doing well.”

The attendance officer is quite smug. 'Brilliant. It's exactly what we want for those kids, a good outcome. We give them an opportunity and they seize it.”

There was another chap a while ago. 'He polished my boot with his backside. He's a lawyer now.”

LeeMac had his own therapy for all the negativity that came with his work. 'I would go to prizegivings and sports awards. It was good to see good kids, most kids, achieving and being rewarded.” But then a lot of the kids LeeMac dealt with ended up doing well.

'It just takes a little empathy and a bit of guidance.”

And parenting. The attendance officer had been in good humour until now, until we start talking parents.

'The kids disappear from school, just come and go and there's no parental support or control.” He tells parents to know where their kids are. 'Be parents, don't try to be friends. Be a parent first. Parents make sure their kids go to school, parents make sure their kids do the things they're supposed to do.” And, he says, parents also make sure there are consequences if their kids do something wrong.

Some school mornings LeeMac and the youth aid officer would take a police cruiser and patrol the 20-odd schools in his patch.

'If schoolkids get into groups then you can get problems. We would talk to them and get them on their way. To school!”

The younger kids would just wave out to the police car. 'They were all pretty good and respectful. But then you'd get the feeling if you went back at night they would throw rocks at you.”

From LeeMac's experience the schools do a pretty hard and good job. 'The first half of every day is sorting the domestic and emotional issues these kids bring to school.”

So next month he's passing the baton to a police youth aid officer. So if you're of school age, should be at school but aren't at school then it could very well be Nathan Ludgate who collars you. Meanwhile 73-year-old Richard Graeme Leigh-MacKenzie, aka LeeMac, will be out talking to gun owners, playing with grandkids, cycling or at a meeting of the Tauranga Boys' College Board of Trustees.

A humble man and one who, according to one reference, should be 'completely trusted and respected”. That's a badge to be proud of.

You may also like....

1 comment

Good man

Posted on 30-04-2017 19:43 | By Hoki

Great article for a Good Man.


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.