By Dan Hutchinson

Sergeant Shane McNally has been at the pointy end of proactive policing for the past 12 years.

Next week Sgt McNally will kick off the 20th Cactus Programme to be held in Taupō. He has been involved in every one of them and has seen about 530 young people pass through it in that time.

**Sergeant Shane McNally has been a huge factor in the success of the Cactus programme over the past 12 years**

This week he was awarded the Harcourts Taupō Good Sort Award for his efforts with the programme.

The Cactus course comes on top of a very busy job, which includes leading the Taupō Road Policing Unit and the Serious Crash Unit.

The Cactus programme came about as part of targeted efforts to sort out issues with road policing, family harm, youth, disorder and drugs in the Tauhara and Paetiki area.

“So we thought, what could we do to target youth to address all those five things, so we put this Cactus programme together.”

The programme, Cactus is short for Combined Adolescent Challenge training Unit, had previously been run in Rotorua, Wairoa and the top of the South Island, with good success.

It is open to a mix of high school students and is based at either Taupō nui a Tia or Tauhara High School, and the Taupō programme boasts a couple of Olympians in its list of graduates.

“There is a mix of kids there from all different backgrounds so it is not just good kids, it is not just all naughty kids, it is a mixture, so they have all learned something and the biggest thing is they start off as 30 individuals and at the end there is one team of 30. That is the amazing transformation over eight weeks.”

It’s an early start for the teenagers, police, defence force and school staff involved. Three days a week, they turn up at 5.55am for an hour of physical training, then they have a shower and get into their school uniforms.

Before they head to school there is a combined breakfast and mentoring session run by Area Commander Phil Edwards.

“Three mornings a week we provide them with breakfast and during that time we talk to them about numerous things, topical things but generally it is around honesty, authenticity, integrity, being true to themselves and being the best versions of themselves, away from stupid decisions, making better decisions and being good people.”

At the end of the eight weeks, an event called The Longest Day is what cements the course.

“They are awake for 36 hours and do a humungous amount of PT, team building, challenges – physical, mental – and they finish at school by pulling a fire truck down the road so it is a big event.”

That is followed by a graduation ceremony.

Sgt McNally was nominated for the award by Tauhara College head Girl Aja Topless.