Q&A: Jessi Morgan, Predator Free New Zealand
04 June 2026
Jessi Morgan is the Chief Executive of Predator Free New Zealand, an organisation dedicated to ridding Aotearoa of pests.
Q&A: Senior Constable Gordon Campbell
Senior Constable and School Community Officer Gordon Campbell trains and monitors school patrols.
More than 20,000 school kids volunteer for school patrol, and while on duty they wear high vis vests and raincoats donated by the AA. The scheme is also supported by NZ Police, with dedicated School Community Officers training and monitoring the teams. Auckland-based Senior Constable Gordon Campbell has been a School Community Officer (SCO) for 13 years.
What does your role entail – is it all about road safety?
Around 50% of my work has a road safety focus. Yes, we train and monitor the school patrols but it’s a lot more than that. We work with bus wardens and do the safe walking programme with kids, teaching them how to be safe on the footpath and when crossing roads. We do bike and scooter safety, car seat checks and work with other agencies such as Students Against Dangerous Driving (SADD).
In secondary schools, we also talk about driving laws – sometimes informally. Teenagers are going to make mistakes, right? Because our primary role in schools is education and prevention, if a kid on their restricted licence mentions they sometimes drive friends, I'll remind them how the demerit point system works, how the consequences of getting 100 demerit points would mean their licence would be suspended. That sort of thing.
We also liaise with school communities on effective management of school traffic and help resolve emergency issues. Sometimes that involves us getting the roading police teams out. Other times, we might engage with councils, roading authorities and engineers to change something that’s not working to make things better and safer for the school community – sorting things like parking or speed limits.
Senior Constable Gordon Campbell's job involves training kids to be school patrollers. Photo by Mark Smith.
How many School Community Officers are there in New Zealand?
Nationally there are 84, covering 2,500 schools. In the Auckland District we have a sergeant and a team of seven.
I hold a portfolio of 25 schools, primary, intermediate, secondary; I also look after the three schools on Great Barrier Island. So, that’s nice! Every year I get to go there for a week and spend a day in each school and I'm there for the swimming sports, which they do in the sea. Tide’s high for sports day and I'm on the water, starting the races, it's pretty cool.
How long have you been with the New Zealand Police and how long have you been an SCO?
I’ve been in the police since 1989 initially in the UK. I came to New Zealand in 2003 and been doing the school community work since 2013.
Senior Constable Gordon Campbell looks after 25 schools in Auckland. Photo by Mark Smith.
What’s your favourite part of the SCO role?
I just love it all. I've been around the block and seen a lot of stuff. Going into schools and delivering programmes is positive. It’s an amazing role. Definitely the best one I've ever had.
How are children recruited for the honour of looking after their school community?
The schools ask for volunteers and we take it from there. Kids have to pass the training and some are not quite right for it. They’ve got to focus for the time they're on patrol. They’ve got to follow rules. And they need to be the sort of person who isn’t ever late, and to be up for standing outside, even when it’s raining.
What’s involved in training school patrol kids?
Quite a bit goes into it; they've got to learn the commands. They've got to learn how to safely put out the signs, how to safely bring the signs back in. Some kids pick it up within a couple of goes, but others are longer.
What’s in it for them?
Depending on where they are, there might be a pizza, a trip to Rainbow’s End at the end of the year… But seriously, there is glory in being a road patroller. I will be at the school throughout the year and kids come up to me saying ‘I want to be a road patroller, how can I make sure I get in’… and I’ll say, well, just make sure you're doing the right things in schools, and practice being helpful.
This story is from the Winter 2026 issue of AA Directions magazine.
