Breast practice to keep staff

PHIL REID/The Dominion Post

FORCE OF NATURE: Inspector Karen Smith and daughter Kobi take advantage of Wellington Central's baby-friendly facilities

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Desperate to retain valuable female staff, police chiefs have taken a fresh approach to get mums back to the force.

Wellington police district is among the first to introduce baby-friendly stations - including a pump room for mums to breastfeed or express milk - to ensure the skills and experience of policewomen are not lost when they take maternity leave.

The district has New Zealand's highest proportion of sworn policewomen - 22.7 per cent, compared with 17.1 per cent nationally.

Wellington Central-based inspector Karen Smith, would have been lost to the force after having daughter Kobi in November but for the baby-friendly attitude. "I have breastfed Kobi at the station and I have even expressed during district management meetings with my back turned in a room full of men so I did not miss any information," she said.

"The men were great. It has meant I could remain in top management and be a working mum 11 weeks after giving birth and not miss out on anything.

"They even accommodate me so I can take Kobi overseas when I have to travel with work. You could not ask for a better working environment."

When Masterton police were asked to put together a wishlist in the design of their new $7.4 million station, women stumped bosses by asking for a "pump room" - a room out of the public eye, comfortable and equipped for breastfeeding babes in arms or expressing milk between callouts and paperwork.

Detective Justine Johnson, who is on the child abuse team in Wairarapa CIB, struggled to juggle a demanding specialist police role with motherhood after the birth of her first child 4 1/2 years ago. "I had to kick my boss out of his office to express and it was such hard work making a real fist of it for both my job and my daughter."

With her second child she waited till the baby was fully weaned before she went back to work. With her third child, Billy, now 9 months, the baby station - the first purpose-built in a police station - next to the women's locker room meant an easier way back.

Part of a team set up to assess why so many women were leaving the police, she said setting up such spaces, being flexible with hours and "just being 100 per cent supportive" had ensured they were being attracted back.

A bill going through Parliament aims to introduce a requirement for employers to provide facilities and breaks for breastfeeding mothers.

- © Fairfax NZ News