Ross Meurant

Alan Ross Meurant (born 26 August 1947 in Te Kopuru) is a New Zealand public figure who has at various times gained public attention as a police officer, a businessman, a politician, and a political lobbyist.

Meurant served in the New Zealand Police between 1966 and 1987. In 1975 he was promoted to Sergeant at Takapuna on the North Shore, married Patricia and purchased a home. He had his first pangs to be a Member of Parliament, and as he decided he needed more education to enter political life he enrolled for a BA degree intending to major in political studies. After 2½ years he went back to Auckland Central as Senior Sergeant. He spent eight years at the University of Auckland, finishing a BA in 1982, and starting a law degree, though he then left to pursue business interests in his last years in the police.

He was a detective in the CIB between 1970 and 1975 and a member of the Armed Offenders Squad. During the controversial 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand, he was second-in-command of one of the riot units, Red Squad. He subsequently wrote a book about the experience of Red Squad: The Red Squad Story. The book was a bestseller in both New Zealand and South Africa.

When Meurant was transferred to night shift work in 1982 after (he says) offending some senior officers he had criticized in his book The Red Squad Story, he studied at night to complete his BA degree and start a law degree. He also started dabbling in business opportunities by running a private security firm from the watchhouse, with his wife as principal partner, and employing up to 70 people. After being commissioned in 1985, he served in various roles including Inspector in charge of the Auckland police criminal intelligence unit. In 1989 he published an autobiography: The Beat to the Beehive.

Meurant stood as the National Party candidate for Hobson in the 1987 elections. He was successful and went on to serve 3 parliamentary terms. In 1996, his electorate was abolished when the introduction of the MMP proportional voting replaced the FPTP system. Faced with being a list MP, Meurant chose instead to form a new political party and had the distinction of being the first person to register a political party under the new regime.

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