Police News Mar 06.indd - New Zealand Police Association

PoliceNewsObituary:The Voice of PoliceJohn Rex Hughes (1933-2006)There’s an old saying that they breed themtough in Taranaki – and Detective InspectorJohn Rex Hughes (QPM), born in Hawera in1933, was no exception.Hughes was greatly respected by Policecolleagues throughout New Zealand as atough cop who got the job done. He was bornto be a detective.Auckland’s criminal fraternity both loathedand respected him – no doubt because of hispenchant for doggedly tracking them down.John died of cancer in Auckland on 1February, aged 73, after a short illness.John’s life was celebrated at the Holy TrinityCathedral in Parnell by a large gathering offamily, friends, politicians, lawyers, judges,prosecutors, colleagues – and even the oddcriminal whose collar he had felt during his33-year career as a police officer.And what a life it was.Extraordinary police officerHe was an extraordinary police officer in everysense of the word. His lengthy police careerwas marked by a determined focus on gettingthe job done – a trait which he brought tocross-country and ultra distance running andearlier to a distinguished boxing career. Hewas highly successful at both sports. As aboxer he fought 142 times as an amateurand captured the NZ middleweight title threetimes between 1955-57, when boxing wasextremely popular. He took up running in 1981and at the age of 48 sliced a massive one anda half days off the Sydney-to-Melbourne roadrace record (875 kilometres). He ran in theevent three times. In the 1970’s he ran the420-mile seven-day Auckland to Wellingtonroad race and gave the tireless and legendarySiegfried Bauer some serious competition.In 1976 he was named New Zealand PoliceSportsperson of the Year. He was responsiblefor encouraging, humouring, bullying andcajoling scores of police officers to getinvolved with running and to this day manywill have cause to thank him for the benefitsrunning has brought them.DeterminationHe carried that sporting determination intohis police work and it paid dividends on majorinvestigations such as the famed Bassett Roadmachine gun murder case of the early 1960’sand Operation Stockholm - the hunt for thekiller of Swedish tourists Urban Hoglin andHeidi Paakkonen in 1989 – both resulted insuccessful convictions. He and his team alsoinvestigated the savage point blank shootingof motelier Rex Bell in Northcote – two menwere convicted.He worked on more than 40 other murderinvestigations and his perfectionist tendenciesand ruthless pursuit of those responsiblegained him a reputation as a second-to-noneinvestigator.• Detective Inspector John Hughes – theconsummate investigator.Suspects were said to fear being taken to the6 th floor of Auckland Central Police Station– known as “John’s floor” – because theyknew they would be in for a grilling fromHughes.John was a reluctant retiree from Police in1993. It was hardly surprising. He had giventhe best years of his life to policing and he hadmade many lifelong friends in the process.He was a positive individual who lived by thesaying: “Look sharp, act sharp, be sharp.”Joined in 1959John joined the police in 1959 in Aucklandand although he was a Detective Sergeantin Hamilton in the 1960’s, he returned toAuckland as a Detective Senior Sergeantafter a few years and was subsequentlypromoted to the rank of Detective Inspectorin 1985. Auckland CIB staff will always fondlyremember him.John Hughes had considerable guile as aninvestigator and his wily approach to dealingwith criminals was aptly demonstrated in oneincident at a Vulcan Lane bar. A notoriousAuckland criminal was a regular there. He wasinvariably cocky and had a real attitude butwas somewhat cocooned by his counterparts.One afternoon there were a series of unrelatedarrests throughout the Auckland area withconsiderable publicity ensued. That evening- as predicted - the cocky individual was againin Vulcan Lane with his cohorts. He was quitesmug. John Hughes went right up to the group- approached the criminal - and producedabout $50 - which was a large amount ofmoney in those days. He gave it to the manand thanked him profusely for the informationhe provided that day. Then John and his teamleft. Police weren’t too sure what became ofthe crim but suffice to say he left Auckland ina hurry shortly afterward.AOS involvementJohn was a founding member of the ArmedOffender’s Squad (AOS) in 1963 - servingboth in Hamilton and Auckland. He andhis investigation teams were credited withcleaning up serious crime within the AucklandCity area, coinciding with the emergence ofteam policing units.Hughes was a patron of the March 1994recruit wing that graduated from the Royal NewZealand Police College and considered it agreat honour – as he did the receipt of the QSM(Queen’s Service Medal) for services to Police.For all his toughness, John also had a caring,nurturing and compassionate side.But the most important aspect of John’s lifewas his family - far above policing and farabove his sport. He was extremely proud ofhis family and often regaled colleagues withupdates about the lives of his children Michele,Craig and Joanne, and his grandchildren.John Hughes was a man who got the jobdone. He had an amazing work ethic andearned the respect of his colleagues for thesheer determination and zeal he brought tohis work – and his life. He was a man whogot results while at the same time taking timeto mentor others. He was a man for whomothers, as it was said in one eulogy, “wouldwillingly walk over broken glass”. And suchis the legacy he leaves for all those fortunateenough to have known him.His wife Mavis, his daughters Michele andJoanne and son Craig survive John.- Steve Plowman and AssistantCommissioner Peter Marshall.32March 2006