The Challenge
In many countries, levels of violent crime have reached the point where governments are militarising their Police forces. But fighting fire with fire only serves to perpetuate the cycle of unrest, which shatters the public’s trust in police. And in New Zealand, our Police don’t carry guns. While brutal offences are an ever-present reality in New Zealand, instead of weapons, we arm our officers with an empathetic mindset. As the official vehicle provider for NZ Police, it’s our responsibility to ensure the safety of our Police force while they travel. But we saw an opportunity to extend that blanket of safety beyond the car. In that moment when our officers are required to step out of the safety of their Skoda and into the unknown, we needed to find an innovative way to help them overcome the adrenaline-fuelled fight or flight response and ground them in the empathic value pillars of their training.
The Solution
NZ Police are trained in a mindset based on showing empathy in high-intensity situations—times when instincts, emotions and the fight or flight response threaten to cloud their approach. Research consistently shows that repetition strengthens neural pathways, solidifying memories and making actions more automatic through a process called neuroplasticity. This means repeated actions become easier and less reliant on conscious thought. So we harnessed that insight and customised the door ‘puddle lights’ in the NZ Police Skoda Superb cars, to project NZ Police’s core value of empathy onto the ground below. So now, every time an officer steps out of their car and into a high intensity situation, the first thing they see is a Guiding Light, there to help bring their training in empathy to the forefront of their mind.
