Niue, after eight years with a New Zealander as police chief, has appointed a local to the position.
Tony Kose can bring a wealth of experience to the position, including a total of four years in Solomon Islands, working with the Regional Assistance Mission's Participating Police Force.
Mr Kose says his immediate predecessors, Ross Ardern and Mark Chenery, had been brought in after Niue and New Zealand signed the Halavaka Agreement in 2004, signalling a strengthened level of co-operation.
He says one of the Niue government's requests was for a New Zealander to serve as police chief but with a specific long term aim.
"They were to identify a potential, one of the locals, to actually take over in the long run. So I think their job was that by seeing a potential local to take over, they were to take them through that succession planning and to ensure that they cover all aspects of policing to localise the position."
Niue's new police chief Tony Kose.
