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Spectrum was a long-running weekly radio documentary series which captured the essence of New Zealand from 1972 to 2016. Alwyn Owen and Jack Perkins produced the series for many years, creating a valuable library of New Zealand oral history.
Spectrum joins Constable Doug Abraham who is a familiar sight to the people along his downtown Auckland beat. For Queen St's community constable, to be seen
constantly on the streets and be known personally are all important weapons in discouraging crime.
Constable Doug Abraham opens by describing his typical work day which begins at 8am with two hours office work so that anyone in the community who needs to, can drop in on him. He then walks the length and breadth of Queen Street to get a feeling for what the street might bring that day. Spectrum interviewer Jack Perkins joins him on that walk.
Doug reflects on the importance of a community of seeing and knowing who their local police officer is so they can feel comfortable to ask for help. He also believes in the importance of being there on the street to learn to intuit its ever changing moods. He notes that events, especially ones involving street kids and gangs, can evolve very quickly.
The pair stop in at L.D. Nathans Woolworth's store (cash registers ringing and a female voice over a PA can be heard in the background) where Doug describes a theft and arrest incident that had occurred the previous day.
A male voice over a police radio system can be heard describing an escapee from Mt. Eden prison which Doug notes down in his note book.
Continuing on their walk, Doug talks about the excellent security system employed by Woolworths LD Nathan, and the surprising amount of both frequency and amount of theft that is intercepted.
At Myers Park where Doug describes how young people gathering and sniffing glue in the park can be a problem. They speak to a homeless man who has spread all his shopping trolley belongings out on the grass. He describes what he has been doing and how he sleeps in the bushes down at the railway station.
Back on Queen Street the pair talk to women who are working on weeding the flower beds in Aotea Square about the weird variety of weapons they uncover while going about their weeding.
Doug describes ‘stair dancers’ , thieves who hang around the stairwell of high rise office buildings waiting for an opportunity to steal female office workers' purses.
They reach Mayoral Drive and enter the Classic Cinema where they talk to the female ticket attendant about young men trying to sneak in to watch restricted movies.
At the top of Karangahape Road and Queen Street Doug talks about the old notorious Rembrandt Hotel and the prostitutes and transvestites that formerly lived there. They laugh over some of the signs advertising services and businesses on Karangahape Road.
At the video parlour ‘Fun City,’ Doug talks about the problems of kids robbing each other to play more video games. A woman talks about her disabled son who she says and has had trouble with being beaten up around the city.
Doug states that he joined the police for the imagined excitement and high speed car chases, but in truth his role is to be there for the public by making a good impression. This, he feels, is the job and importance of front line policing.
We end with the sounds of the harmonica as Doug introduces himself to a busker named George who tells Doug all about the different buskers up and down the street.