By Susannah Cullinane BBC News in Auckland, New Zealand

Mark, with his daughters, said the family enjoyed the outdoor lifestyle

On 10 April Mark Butler will be one of 100 police officers, mainly from Britain, beginning a conversion course near Wellington in order to join the New Zealand Police.

The officers have been recruited without advertising from a database of thousands who have expressed interest in moving to New Zealand

Mr Butler, 37, was a sergeant with the Metropolitan Police's firearms unit and had spent 16 years serving in various parts of London.

He said he and his wife Michelle had decided to move for family reasons, because they thought it would be best for the future of their children.

"We have two daughters and we were looking to move further and further from London in terms of safety and increasing crime.

"We're very much an outdoor family and are into water sports and went in July and really enjoyed it - and we decided to give it two years to see how it pans out.

"We'd committed ourselves to the country before the job."

'Completely mad'

The Butlers arrived in New Zealand in the first week of January and Michelle has already started work as a teacher.

Otahuhu has a large Polynesian community

Mr Butler said his daughters were amazed at the change of lifestyle the relative security of New Zealand had brought.

"Our children think we've gone completely mad. In the UK they didn't disappear out of our sight - here they have all the freedom in the world.

"People are more friendly and trusting."

Mr Butler said he had been encouraged by feedback from former London colleagues.

"I've got a couple of mates, one in Manukau [south Auckland] and one in Henderson [west Auckland], who worked for the Metropolitan Police and came out in 2002 and have no regrets at all."

Back on the beat

He said all the police officers joining the New Zealand force from overseas would lose their rank and become a constable.

When they recruited they were after people that were quite dynamic and didn't want to come over and retire Mark Butler

After the conversion course, held at Porirua just out of Wellington, the officers will begin a probationary period.

"It's a short probation, I don't know exactly how long but it won't be two years which would be normal for new recruits - probably six to eight months."

He said he had been told he would be put on patrol in the suburb of Otahuhu in south Auckland.

He said he expected it to feel similar to London, in terms of being a melting pot of cultures.

"It will be Polynesians as opposed to people from Eastern Europe, but people from different backgrounds who mainly tend to be from the lower economic sector as well."

'Less intervention'

Mr Butler said New Zealand had not been portrayed as a soft option.

"When they recruited they were after people that were quite dynamic and didn't want to come over and retire."

But he said he was not sure where his career would lead in the long term.

"For me, I'm just looking forward to passing probation and getting used to the New Zealand way of life."

Mr Butler said it was too early to tell whether there was much difference between policing in the two countries, but there appeared to be "less intervention in policing over here, and more emphasis on getting the job done".

Reclassification

Recruitment officer Inspector Dawn Bell told BBC News that 76 UK officers had been recruited in 2003, after their profession was reclassified by New Zealand immigration authorities.

"We didn't actually advertise; we went back to the database of people who'd expressed interest and emailed all these people to say 'Now we have a way to get you in the country provided you meet our requirements'."

Mr Butler is to be stationed at Otahuhu station in Auckland

Then, late last year, the New Zealand government announced it would fund an extra thousand police officers, to be introduced over three years.

Inspector Bell said that with over 2,000 names on its database, the New Zealand force again "decided to test the waters", beginning on 5 August.

"We were only contacting people who had contacted us - by the end of the month we had over 700 people who had responded.

"We only wanted 100.

"Since the end of August last year 1,400 - with at least 1,300 from the UK - have expressed interest."

Testing

Inspector Bell said the NZ police wanted generalist police officers with some traffic or CID experience, and after some online testing and background inquiries a shortlist of a manageable number was created.

In November 2005 a team was sent to Britain to carry out physical tests and interview potential recruits and in early December places were offered to 100 interested officers.

"They're going to areas where we see there is a need to get some experience and some areas where it's difficult to recruit," Inspector Bell said.

Most - like Mark Butler - were making the move for the New Zealand lifestyle.

Lifestyle

"The majority of them have families and want to bring them out but to continue on in a career that they're quite passionate about. We want people that want to be police officers.

"What they say is 'I've been a police officer for 10 or 15 years and I want to be a police officer for the rest of my life and I want to do it in New Zealand'.

"Some may choose to come out here and leave [the New Zealand Police] immediately - but we don't envisage that happening."

Inspector Bell said that of the 76 that were recruited in 2003, 52 remained in policing in New Zealand.

In terms of how the new recruits will find the work in New Zealand, she said she didn't think there was a big difference in the type of crime they would be dealing with.

"I think policing is the same all over the world.