Police still armed for now

Police will continue to carry guns for the foreseeable future, while the national threat level remains at high.

All frontline police officers in all regions – rural and urban – have been instructed by Police Commissioner Mike Bush to carry guns while on duty ‘‘until we are satisfied that the risk to the community is reduced’’.

A police spokesperson said they could not give a specific timeframe on when that might be.

Police are unlikely to rescind the order to carry guns until the national threat level is lowered – a decision that lies with the crossagency Combined Threat Assessment Group (CTAG). All officers are carrying a Glock 17 pistol in a holster, and have a Bushmaster M4 semi-automatic rifle in each police car.

Officers tasked with protecting specific people and areas are carrying the Bushmaster on patrol. Under normal circumstances, police in New Zealand carry pepper spray, batons and tasers, though all are trained with the Glock and Bushmaster.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said arming police officers meant the public could have more assurance knowing that police could respond to situations immediately, and reduce the possibility of copycat attacks. In a 2017 survey of frontline police officers, 73 per cent said they would prefer to carry a firearm while on patrol.

Cahill said that ‘‘in general’’ the police association supported arming frontline officers.

‘‘It’s certainly going to be a discussion. Things have changed.’’

According to statistics made public by police headquarters, firearms were presented at police 17 times in 2017. In four of those incidents, weapons were fired.

And of those 17 situations, 14 resulted in prosecutions.

Cahill said the recent gun law changes, combined with more that could come into effect, could ‘‘create an environment where there are less firearms and less risk to officers, and it may not be needed, but it will depend on the other changes’’.

He is calling for a gun register, ‘‘so we know who has them, what they are, and where they are’’.

He would also like to see more stringent security requirements.

‘‘What we know is most criminals get them [guns] by stealing them from law-abiding gun owners,’’ he said.

Firearms licensed owners must have a secure gun rack, safe, or ‘‘receptacle of stout construction’’, to store their weapons.

Frontline police officers in Canterbury carried guns while on patrol February 28-March 3 while a man suspected of involvement in a shoot-out in Christchurch was on the loose.