Garth den Heyer, DPubPol

Garth is a Senior Research Fellow with the Foundation. He is also an Inspector with the New Zealand National Police with more than 32 years experience and is a lecturer with the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He is the Manager of National Security for the New Zealand Police and is responsible for implementing and managing the New Zealand Police’s national operational response to natural and civil disasters and national security/counter terrorism incidents.

Dr. den Heyer has extensive experience in police and security sector reform issues in post-conflict nations, including in the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Bougainville and Afghanistan. Garth has been deployed for nearly two years to the Solomon Islands as part of RAMSI to advise both the international deployment and the local police on organizational reform.

Garth has a Masters degree in economics from the University of London and a Masters degree in Security and Intelligence from Victoria University, Wellington. He also has a Doctorate in Public Policy from Charles Sturt University. Dr den Heyer has published a number of papers and articles on policing, including the militarization of police, police reform in post conflict states and service delivery effectiveness.

He has recently completed an 18 month United States Institute of Peace funded research project which evaluated the role of civilian police in peacekeeping. He is currently the Principle Investigator on the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS) funded research project. This project is a national and international comparative assessment of cost-reducing strategies adopted by police agencies to maintain effective and efficient delivery of services. More information about this project can be found here.

Garth can be reached directly at: gdenheyer@policefoundation.org