Bob Walton (police commissioner)

Robert Josiah Walton CMG OBE QPM ED (8 December 1921 – 16 July 2008) was a New Zealand police officer who served as Commissioner of Police between 1978 and 1983. His tenure was marked by the end of the Bastion Point occupation, the Mount Erebus disaster, the 1981 Springbok tour, and the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the convictions of Arthur Alan Thomas for the murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe.[1]

Bob Walton

CMG OBE QPM ED
22nd Commissioner of Police
In office
1978–1983
Preceded byKen Burnside
Succeeded byKen Thompson
Personal details
Born
Robert Josiah Walton

(1921-12-08)8 December 1921
Auckland, New Zealand
Died16 July 2008(2008-07-16) (aged 86)
Wellington, New Zealand
Spouse(s)
Marjorie Beryl Frost
(
m. 1947)
Children1
EducationMount Albert Grammar School
OccupationPolice officer

Born in Auckland on 8 December 1921, Walton was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School.[2] During World War II, he saw service in the Middle East, Italy and Japan, and later served in the Royal New Zealand Army Service Corps (Territorials), retiring as colonel commandant in 1986.[2] In 1947, Walton married Marjorie Beryl Frost, and the couple went on to have one child.[2]

Walton joined the New Zealand Police, and led the investigations into the Bassett Road machine gun murders in 1963.[1] From 1966 to 1974, he headed the Criminal Investigation Branch, and in 1971 studied at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.[2] He served as deputy police commissioner from 1974 to 1978, and police commissioner from 1978 to 1983, when he retired.[2]

In retirement, Walton lived in Wellington, and was president of the Wellington Bowling Centre between 1992 and 1993, and a member of the New Zealand Bowling Association council from 1993 to 1996.[2] He died at his home in Wellington on 16 July 2008.[1]

Honours and awards

In the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, Walton was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military).[3] In the 1979 New Year Honours, he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal,[4] and in the 1983 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.[5]

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References
  1. "Former police commissioner Walton dies". New Zealand Herald. 17 July 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  2. Taylor, Alister, ed. (2001). New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa 2001. Auckland: Alister Taylor Publishers. p. 916. ISSN 1172-9813.
  3. "No. 43669". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1965. p. 5513.
  4. "No. 47725". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 30 December 1978. p. 42.
  5. "No. 49376". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 11 June 1983. p. 36.
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