‘Never stopped trying’ – Police detail how they tried to find Phillips’ family

Police have disclosed the scale of resources deployed during the four-year search for fugitive father Tom Phillips and his three children, following the conclusion of Operation Curly earlier this month.

Phillips disappeared with his children from their Marokopa farm in December 2021 — the second time in three months they had vanished. The operation came to an end in the early hours of 8 September 2025 when Phillips critically injured a police officer in a shooting before he was fatally shot by police.

Detective Superintendent Ross McKay said in a statement today, September 26 that the difficult and remote bush terrain posed major challenges throughout the search.

“At various times during the operation, Police specialist units such as Special Tactics Group, Armed Offenders Squad, Search and Rescue and Tactical Operations Group were used,” McKay said.

The New Zealand Defence Force also provided helicopter and ground support, other resources used were geospatial and thermal imagery, covert cameras, and Airbus Flexrotor drones.

The drones, operated by Airbus, flew for 111 hours across a two-week period in April this year.

“Police never stopped trying – thousands of hours were dedicated to the search,” McKay said.

Intelligence gathering and behavioural analysis informed planning, with police working on the assumption that Phillips was armed, prepared to use violence, and unwilling to surrender peacefully.

McKay said the search strategy focused on identifying a campsite or a supply route, but the family’s frequent movement and changing routines made that impossible.

“The family regularly moved around and adapted their behaviour, meaning no sites were found,” McKay said.

“They were detected in transit on occasion but never in circumstances that allowed Police to safely intervene.”

The children remain under Family Court guardianship, with Oranga Tamariki as the court’s agent.

The officer injured on 8 September has since been discharged from hospital and continues to recover.

Police say reviews of the operation are under way, and investigators are pursuing strong lines of inquiry into whether Phillips received outside assistance.