The Community Probation Service farwelled Warwick Duell last December after 35 years with Corrections.
“There is a seductiveness about working in this business which holds you there… and keeps you enthused,” says Warwick.
Warwick joined Corrections as an Assistant Probation Officer in Dunedin in 1970. Since then he has worked in a variety of South Island based roles, interrupted only by study for a Masters in Social Work and an overseas secondment.
During the 1970s and 1980s he served as district manager of Blenheim, Invercargill, and finally Dunedin. In 1990 Warwick was seconded to Niue for two years where he was involved in the restructuring of the civil service. In 1992 he returned to New Zealand and Corrections as Southern Regional Manager until moving to head office last year as National Manager, Management Development.
Probation and Offender Services General Manager Katrina Casey praised Warwick for his unflagging enthusiasm and commitment to probation work, which has never wavered.
Even in retirement Warwick is continuing his work in the criminal justice sector, providing technical advice to Corrections counterparts in Vanuatu and Samoa.
After three and a half decades in the probation service Warwick warns against quick and easy solutions: “There is no single answer, and it is this continuing search for effective practice that provides opportunities for discussion and debate. What will not change is the continuing aspiration to develop and maintain professionalism in the probation service.”
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ISSN 1178-8453