Otago Daily Times

Armed police trial evaluated

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WELLINGTON: A trial of armed police has found the frontline officers like them but some members of the public are less enthusiast­ic.

In June, police commission­er Andrew Coster announced that Armed Response Teams would not be part of the New Zealand policing model in the future.

Police have released the evaluation of the trial which was launched in Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury in October last year and ended in April.

It shows the teams attended more than 8269 incidents across the three districts.

Almost a quarter (23%) were classed as emergency events and the average emergency response time was eight minutes. The teams were busiest at weekends between 10pm and 1am.

More than half of those emergency incidents involved a firearm, although firearm offences accounted for 2.6% of all incidents the teams attended.

The survey found widespread regional variation in firearms offences — teams in Counties Manukau were nearly twice as likely to attend firearmsre­lated events than those in Canterbury, and over six times more likely than the Waikato teams.

Throughout the trial, no officer fired a gun, although they drew their weapons five times. Officers were more likely to draw a Taser as a visual deterrent, although these were only fired twice.

It found on average, in 67% of cases when the teams were sent to assist frontline officers their expertise in special tactics was not required.

Instead, the teams provided support to their frontline colleagues.

The report found frontline officers felt safer, that incidents were dealt with more efficientl­y and they felt supported and received mentorship and guidance from the team members.

In an effort to canvass public opinion, police commission­ed a national survey about the public’s understand­ing of and support for the teams. It found 72% supported the trial, although support was split among those who strongly backed the initiative (38%) and those who simply supported the trial (34%). The report found even though the survey was nationally representa­tive, it was small, having only 574 responses.

The report also noted a lack of consultati­on, particular­ly with Maori and Pasifika communitie­s, caused problems.

Some members of the public pointed to the threat from firearms as a questionab­le operationa­l justificat­ion, while others pointed out that the communitie­s police were protecting were not asked if they wanted armed police patrolling their streets. — RNZ

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