Real preparation for the real world

Brad worked with the NZ Fisheries for more than 18 years. He has extensive experience in operational and training roles. As a frontline fishery officer, he faced many challenging situations where multiple safety risk factors were present at the same time. As a result, Brad became interested in developing his knowledge and skill in the officer safety field. This eventually led to his appointment as National Co-ordinator: Officer Safety Programme within the Ministry's Compliance Training and Development Unit.

Certified by the NZ Police as an officer safety defensive tactics instructor, Brad wrote the defensive tactics manual and training material for the Ministry of Fisheries. He has also co-ordinated equipment implementation projects for the Ministry.

Brad holds national and international instructor certifications in officer safety and tactical communications training.  His experience in frontline roles, along with the development and delivery of officer safety training, helps to ensure our programmes are second to none.

“I’m passionate about helping individuals and organisations reduce risk in compliance and enforcement situations, so they can be safer and more effective in their work. It’s very rewarding to see confidence and competence grow.”

Brad is based in New Plymouth and can be contacted on
+64 (0)27 423 7869 or by email at brad@cert.co.nz

Prior to taking up the role of GM at CERT Australia, Craig was a Senior Consultant with CERT NZ. Craig recently left NZ Fisheries / Ministry for Primary Industries where he was a Fishery Officer, Officer Safety Defensive Tactics Instructor and managed the National Communications Centre. Prior to this his background included high performance sports administration and coaching, Private Maritime Security roles and 10 years in the NZ Military including an attachment to the NZ Special Air Service as an operational communications specialist.

Craig can be reached on +61 (0) 419 265 217 or at craig.wright@certaustralia.com

Rachel joined CERT Group after a variety of roles within a range of sectors, both in New Zealand and internationally. After starting her career as a print and television journalist she has worked in the agricultural, technology, education, and food sectors in communications, marketing, management and business development roles. Most recently Rachel has been involved in the satellite industry supplying broadband connectivity to aircraft in airlines across the world.

With a strong background in marketing, business development and management, Rachel’s role with CERT Group is providing strategic leadership to both CERT Systems (NZ) and CERT Australia.

Rachel is based in New Plymouth and can be contacted on +64 (0)21 873 774 or by email at rachel@certgroup.com

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In 1991, English-born Susan Inness realised her childhood dream of becoming a police officer, joining Hampshire Police. While she officially left there in 2016, she spent five years working in New Zealand during that time, finally making the big move to New Zealand in 2014.

From Police Constable in 1991 she reached Sergeant rank in 2002. As a Sergeant, she supervised frontline staff in the busy Naval City of Portsmouth and ran a custody block between the two cities of Portsmouth and Southampton.

When she arrived in New Zealand, her first role was in the custody block of Counties Manukau Police Station and the neighbouring Court Cells, where she had to put all of her tactical communication skills into action.

In 2015, Susan took up the role of Tactical Options Trainer for the NZ Police based at the Auckland Firearms Range where she taught tactical communication, threat assessment, firearms, baton, cuffs, OC spray, unarmed defence tactics (including ground defence) and Taser. She also taught various practical tactical training such as room clearance, high-risk vehicle stops and active armed offender drills.

Always keen to enhance her knowledge and skills, Susan completed the NZQA level 5 Adult Education Tertiary Teaching certificate in 2019 - very useful in helping to identify and meet the needs of different types of learners. This builds on her experience in the UK Police where she was a Workplace Dyslexia Assessor which taught her how to identify dyslexics among student groups and make the appropriate adjustments needed for them get the most out of all training sessions.

“Being a frontline officer meant having to have excellent communication skills in order to diffuse potentially dangerous situations and satisfactory self-defence skills in order to protect myself and others when tactical communication failed on occasions. These are the skills and life lessons I really enjoy imparting to others.”

Susan is based in Auckland and can be contacted on +64 (0) 27 555 0558 or susan.inness@cert.co.nz

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Cam joined CERT in 2023 after 14 years at the Royal New Zealand Police College where he was a Defensive Tactics and Physical Training Instructor. Prior to that he was a Physical Education Instructor with the UK Prison Service before moving to NZ with his wife and two sons.

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Cam is based in Wellington, NZ and can be contacted on +64 (0) 21 172 6969 or cam.ainslie@certgroup.com

Blair joined the CERT team after a 28-year career in the New Zealand Police, where he reached the rank of Inspector and held a number of senior roles, including Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) supervisor, Area Commander and Private Secretary to the Minister of Police. Blair’s experience includes numerous overseas deployments, including the Solomon Islands and as a Police Liaison Officer at numerous Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Blair is also an Olympian himself, having represented New Zealand in Bobsledding at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. With almost 20 years of frontline policing experience, Blair brings situational safety, conflict management and resolution, and general law enforcement skills to CERT - skills garnered through experience ‘in the field’. He is also a qualified firearms instructor. As a leader he has worked with individuals and teams to maximise safety, ensuring their professionalism and empowering staff to improve their resilience and confidence when managing difficult people and situations. His experience and leadership skills enable him to provide a full range of coaching, training and consulting activities to deliver real-world training to participants.

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Blair is based in New Plymouth and can be contacted on blair@cert.co.nz

With 23 years in the NZ Police, Laurie is an experienced Investigator with a demonstrated history of working in the law enforcement industry in New Zealand and Australia. Laurie is an Advanced Investigative Interviewing specialist at all levels of interviewing victims, witnesses, suspects, children and persons of interest. After being trained by some of the world’s leading Interviewing experts and following a career of interviewing and training NZ Police officers at district and national levels, he developed his own PEACE interviewing programme to train other government sector and private agencies to enable their people to commence all investigations with the very best interviews by obtaining complete, accurate and reliable information.He uses techniques that are grounded in modern research and evidence-based methods and uses his experience in attending high-level dynamic crime scenes with multiple parties, to communicate well and achieve the best outcomes evidentially, while maintaining situational awareness and keeping everyone safe.

Eko is the ICT officer for CERT Australia, mainly working behind the scenes to ensure that all the systems are of the highest quality, robust and secure to support CERT Australia’s growth pathway. With experience in managing and administering organisational ICT systems and procedures, Eko is responsible for minimising the risk of internal and external security threats and organising business support to enable our employees and contractors to focus on their core roles.

Before Joining our team, Eko worked for DXC Technology L1&L2 Senior ICT Technical Support Analyst for over a year. He is currently undertaking a full-time master’s degree in ICT, specialising in cybersecurity. Based in Hobart, Tasmania, Eko is also a keen hiker, bushwalker, and camper who has travelled extensively, experiencing different cultures along the way.

Eko’s excellent interpersonal skills, humility, curiosity, and easy-going personality make him an asset to our team. Whether it’s working on CERT Services, ICT solutions or exploring the great outdoors, Eko is the right person to contact.

Eko can be reached on +61 (0) 473 358 583 or eko.handoko@certaustralia.com

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