2026 NZ Outstanding Security Performance Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient Lincoln Potter has turned a career-long love affair with security science into an artform, writes chief editor Nicholas Dynon.
On 26 June, security consultant Lincoln Potter was recognised with the 2026 New Zealand Outstanding Security Performance Award (OSPA) for Lifetime Achievement. He now becomes the latest inductee into the international Security Hall of Fame.
Full disclosure. I’m a friend of Lincoln Potter. We go back about a decade. So, what you’re about to read – should you choose to continue reading – is unlikely to come across as an example of dispassionate, flawlessly objective journalism. But it will make for a good story.
I first came across Lincoln at the former NZSA office in Takapuna, Auckland. An enthusiastic – if not intense – trainer, he was putting Certificate of Approval candidates through their paces with a de-escalation scenario. He set the scene, he turned on the tension, he moved from one student to the next, correcting their stance, drawing their unknown inner authoritativeness out into the open, and doing so via a resonant frequency tuned just right. He knew his audience. After all, he’d been one of them.
And he’d had to work at it. Over many years. From all accounts, a young Lincoln Potter did not cut a physically imposing figure. Genetics dictated that no amount of gym work and protein supplementation was likely to fill out his patrol uniform in ways he would have preferred.
“When Derek Kolstad created the John Wick franchise in 2014, he needed look no further than an unassuming figure dressed in an all-black three-piece suit at the back of the security conference or industry awards room.”
While mass can be helpful, Lincoln gravitated early to the idea that the absence of mass can be just as powerful – that presence and strength can be derived as much from space and the intangible energies that we fill it with as it can from brawn and bluster. This drew him naturally to the martial arts.
He would ultimately spend years tempering his body in the suburban dojos of various Japanese martial art disciplines, complementing this with intellectual explorations into bushido (the way of the warrior) and a range of Eastern philosophical traditions – what he would refer to as types of ‘shadow work’, or behind-the-scenes self-improvement.
Whether the martial arts imbued within Lincoln a quiet sense of self discipline, whether it afforded him a degree of physical confidence, whether it gave him a couple of extra tricks up his sleeve in the heat of an exchange, or a transcendent ability to de-escalate, it – no doubt – supplemented the toolset he has used to carve out a uniquely exceptional career in security.
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Decades later, there isn’t much in the private security industry that Lincoln Potter hasn’t done. He’s held the torch and the keys, he’s worked in close protection, cash in transit, guarding and patrols, eventually branching out into investigations, electronic security, training, and ultimately delivering security consulting services at the apex of the profession.
From the ground up
Lincoln commenced his security career in 1990 as a self-employed security operator providing venue security, personal protection and retail loss prevention services.
Although he may have grown up in Rotorua, he has invariably described himself as a West Aucklander, a badge of honour he has worn for much of his life. It’s a badge, at least in Lincoln’s case, that comes complete with wry underdog humour, a habitual and panoptical wariness, a sense of right and of wrong – and a heightened readiness to put the latter in its place when needed.
It’s a readiness that’s been well demonstrated in the retail setting. During a relatively short stint as a contracted loss prevention officer for Pak‘nSave in the mid-1990s, he apprehended 473 shoplifters.
The initial two decades of his career saw him perform in a diverse range of security practitioner roles with increasing levels of superiority, while also achieving several certificates in guarding, patrolling, and close protection, and National Certificates in Security (Levels 2, 3 and 4).
He was employed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and then Television New Zealand providing in-house security between 1996 and 2006, spending his time between control rooms and patrol routes. During this period, he also worked for Chubb New Zealand providing cash-in-transit services and flexing his electrotechnical muscles installing security systems in residential and commercial properties.
Between 2006 and 2010, he worked in investigations as a self-employed surveillance operator, further expanding his suite of professional competencies.
Peekaboo! Lincoln taking in the view at the OSPAs. Image: LinkedIn/Reck Reck.
Training and mentoring
In 2010, twenty years after starting out in security – Lincoln’s security career took a turn towards training, auditing, and, ultimately, security risk consulting.
His influence on the early careers of security practitioners across New Zealand gained momentum with his appointment as a Security Tutor at New Zealand Career College where he delivered training in security, as part of a government initiative, to unemployed job seekers.
As a trainer, Lincoln’s humble, humorous, and engaging style, and his ability to connect with people from diverse backgrounds and walks of life, found appeal among cohorts of new and aspirant security officers.
Having completed the National Diploma in Security (Levels 5 and 6) and qualifying as a NZQA Assessor to assess the Unit Standard 4098 in 2014, he continued his journey of professional mastery with the ASIS International Physical Security Professional (PSP) Board Certification in 2015, the NZSA Security Consultant Certificate of Competence in 2016, and the Building Networks Certification of Completion in IQP Compliance in 2022.
Between 2013 and 2025, Lincoln travelled extensively around the country as a New Zealand Security Association (NZSA) trainer and auditor delivering licensing training for security guards and crowd controllers, conducting audits of NZSA corporate member businesses, tutoring and assessing candidates for the National Diploma in Security, and advising security providers on compliance with industry codes and standards.
In this role, states David Horsburgh, a 2023 OSPAs Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, “Lincoln influenced the improvement of NZSA standards against which industry players were audited, thereby raising the quality of systems to create safe and secure environments and the protection of communities.”
Lincoln concurrently acted as a security consultant to a wide range of customer organisations, delivering threat and risk assessments, lighting and CPTED analyses, advising on electronic and physical security controls, and generally uplifting their security risk maturity. The outcomes he achieved for his clients were recognised with several professional awards, including the NZSA 2016 New Zealand Security Award for Security Consultant of the Year, and the 2022 New Zealand Outstanding Security Performance Award (OSPA) for Outstanding Security Consultant.
Lincoln and Ngaire Kelaher at the OSPAs. Image supplied.
Telling it how it is
Widely acknowledged as a security risk Subject Matter Expert, Lincoln’s insights have been sought by national media outlets, conference organisers, industry associations, and professional security publications. In an investigative article published in April 2022 by both Radio New Zealand and The New Zealand Herald, journalist Farah Hancock wrote:
“Lincoln Potter has been in the security game for three decades; he’s done retail security, trained security officers and close protection teams, studied security sciences, and the New Zealand Security Association suggests him as the person to talk to about CCTV.”
“Sometimes he’s found himself caught between CCTV system vendors and clients,” she continues. “He’s not always popular with vendors, as he has no qualms telling clients if they’re being offered a system with unnecessary bells and whistles.
With a track record of articulating evidence-based positions on security matters, Lincoln articulates sometimes unpopular positions with clear-eyed objectivity and professional accountability. In Lincoln parlance, he’s “not going to blow smoke in your face and tell you lies.”
Several of his articles have been published by the New Zealand Security Magazine, including pieces identifying systemic issues preventing effective training in the security industry, first-of-its-kind technical guidance on the security-by-design construction of monitoring centres, insights on operationalising New Zealand’s Protecting Crowded Places from Attack counter-terrorism guidance, and security officer-level insights on guarding in a “post-compliant society”.
His “Guarding in a post-compliant society”, an article published in the December 2017 issue of NZSM, somewhat prophetically argued that many of the difficulties being faced by frontline security officers tended to have less to do with training gaps and more to do with the fact that members of the public were becoming less civil and less likely to comply with directives.
“Security officers have no special powers and the acts of law that support us are very weak,” he wrote. “The key skill of officers thus lies in their ability to get people to acquiesce”.
“The fact is that people are no longer prone to acquiescence. People will not comply anymore. The one thing that we relied on to do our job has gone and it’s not coming back.”
While most of us tend to associate the post-Covid world with a societal spiral into incivility and aggression in public spaces – and especially retail environments, Lincoln was deftly reading the room long before border closures and lockdowns brought the behavioural downsides of collective cabin fever to national attention.
To again borrow a phrase from Lincolnian lexicon, we have “angrier resting faces” than we used to.
The OSPAs ‘class of 2026’. Image: LinkedIn/ASIS NZ.
Voluntary leadership
While his ability to communicate complex security concepts to non-specialist audiences have seen him commenting in the media and presenting at many speaker events, perhaps the most compelling examples of Lincoln’s impact have been in his various voluntary roles within the security industry.
He has served as a member of the Crowed Places Security Advisory Group, the NZSA Security Consultants Special Interest Group and NZQA Special Interest Group, and the NZSA and NZQA Targeted Review of Qualifications. His voluntary leadership within the ASIS International NZ Chapter included serving as Treasurer and later as Deputy Chair and Head of the chapter’s Shadow Committee.
“His enthusiasm and sense of humour clearly reflect the genuine enjoyment he finds in being part of the industry.”
It hasn’t always gone well. The underdog from the west has low tolerance levels for bad behaviour, browbeating, and backbiting; and as ready as Lincoln has been to give of his time to voluntary teams he’s just as readily walked away when he’s sensed things were not quite right.
For the most part, it’s been smooth sailing. His multi-year voluntary service for ASIS resulting in his being awarded a prestigious ASIS International Meritorious Service Award in 2018. Recognising exceptional service and dedication, the award is bestowed upon volunteers who go above and beyond in supporting their local chapters and the global security community.
Wise counsel
An interesting and unsung example of Lincoln’s impact is seen in his mentorship of 2025 New Zealand Security Awards Security Supervisor/Operations Manager of the Year winner Nanaia Haua of Dunedin-based SPS Security. Nanaia was recognised for turning around the fortunes of SPS Security from a pending PSPLA-enforced closure that would have seen in excess of 100 staff lose employment.
The NZSA had recommended that SPS work with Lincoln to identify and implement changes needed to avoid the company’s closure. Lincoln’s analysis, advice and coaching were instrumental in getting the business back on track to a standard that met the PSPLA’s requirements and ultimately drew public praise from PSPLA Chair Trish McConnell.
Importantly, the company retained its customers and staff, improved its performance, and became the subject of glowing testimonials.
Nanaia Haua from SPS Security wins at the 2025 New Zealand Security Awards. Image: NZSA.
Some last words
According to ASIS International Regional Vice-President, Ngaire Kelaher, who has known Lincoln for close to three decades, two of his qualities have consistently stood out.
“The first is his genuine passion for his work and the pride he takes in everything he does,” Ngaire told me.
“Lincoln has always been deeply committed to the security profession, his clients, and the people they serve. He consistently strives to uphold the highest professional standards, and that commitment has never wavered.”
The second, says Ngaire, is his dedication to continuous professional development.
“Over the decades, I’ve seen firsthand his ongoing commitment to learning, growing, and developing both personally and professionally. He actively seeks opportunities to expand his knowledge and improve his skills, setting an excellent example for others in the industry.
“His enthusiasm and sense of humour clearly reflect the genuine enjoyment he finds in being part of the industry.”
Andrew Thorburn, past ASIS New Zealand Chapter Chair and security industry luminary, describes Lincoln as a “unique security practitioner, who has brought diverse practical experiences married to a deep understanding of the science of protective security and risk management.”
“A long-time martial arts practitioner and archer,” said Andrew, “his subsequent calm in the eye of a storm has enabled development and delivery of national training to New Zealand’s leading brands providing services including security guards, security technicians, incident management, and corporate security to clients for over two decades.”
Apparently, he’s also an occasionally snappy dresser. “When Derek Kolstad created the John Wick franchise in 2014,” said Andrew, “he needed look no further than an unassuming figure dressed in an all-black three-piece suit at the back of the security conference or industry awards room.”
From his role in influencing many cohorts of early career practitioners along their development journeys to transforming businesses and influencing the uptake of industry codes and standards, very few individuals have done more to make New Zealand’s security industry a better, more respected industry to work in. Lincoln Potter is the very definition of a lifetime achiever, and I am honoured to be counted among his friends.
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