Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

On the 17th of August 1953, Hector Larsen, the resident commissioner of Niue, was murdered.

As historian Dick Scott tells it, in his book Would a Good Man Die?, the three young Niueans responsible for Larsen's death felt they were ridding their land of a tyrant.

And by most accounts Larsen's decade long rule was not just paternalistic but brutal.

In many ways the resident commissioner's murder can be read as a cautionary tale about the ultimate price of intolerant and arrogant rule.

But the days of New Zealand's fledging empire are thankfully long gone. Since the post-war wave of decolonization swept through the Pacific in the 1960s and '70s the peoples of Oceania have ruled themselves.

Ex-pat New Zealanders, Australians and Brits no longer dictate what Pacific Islander can and can't do. Pacific Islanders are in charge. They govern themselves, educate themselves and police themselves… or do they?

It may come as a surprise to hear that four Pacific Island nations have New Zealand police officers heading up their police departments.

This week in Ideas, former premier of Niue, Young Vivian, contrasts the styles of the current head of Niue's Police force, Kiwi Ross Adern, and Hector Larson.

We hear from Ross Adern himself and from his counterpart in the Solomon Islands, Acting Police Commissioner Peter Marshall.

And New Zealand assistant commissioner of police Jon White provides an overview of the involvement of the New Zealand police in the Pacific.