Top cop concerned at actions of armed crims
New Zealand’s top cop says frontline police officers are concerned after a spate of gun-related incidents and violence towards them.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said he’d seen a ‘‘really worrying’’ trend of criminals becoming more likely to turn firearms on officers. But he ruled out officers carrying guns as protection. In recent months, gun-related incidents have been brought into the public eye with shootings happening at hotels, a bar and on the street.
Last week, police shot a man dead in Hamilton after he fired a gun at officers. The next day in Auckland, a man was shot on a busy street by police after allegedly pointing a gun at the heads of two members of the public. On Sunday, a 19-year-old was charged with discharging a firearm in a public place following an altercation in West Auckland. Coster told Stuff police had ‘‘certainly’’ seen an increase in the willingness of offenders to use guns directed towards them. ‘‘That’s really concerning. Policing has always been a dangerous job, but I think that escalation is really worrying us.’’ Frontline officers were ‘‘absolutely concerned’’ and such incidents were ‘‘unnerving’’, he said.
It was hard to pinpoint why the escalation had occurred, Coster said, but mental health and drug issues were a common factor. He also believed a different attitude and mindset of offenders could be a reason.
‘‘In the past they may have been more reluctant towards using guns towards police. For whatever reason, we are seeing more of it.
‘‘It’s hard to put a finger on
exactly what has caused that shift.’’
Coster said he didn’t see the rise in violence towards police as a purely Auckland issue – and said it could be seen anywhere in the country. Hamilton had had a ‘‘pretty bad run’’ but a conclusion couldn’t be drawn from a handful of recent events.
He also doesn’t believe the public should be unduly concerned – despite what happened in Auckland’s Penrose on Thursday with members of the public getting caught up in the ordeal.
‘‘These incidents are still relatively rare,’’ Coster said. ‘‘Generally speaking when we have seen shootings it has been criminals using firearms on each other. The worrying trend has been an increase in that being directed towards police.
‘‘The general public, for the most part, hasn’t been involved in these situations, so I don’t think the public needs to be unduly concerned.’’
When asked if the public didn’t need to be concerned despite two people allegedly having a gun held to their heads last week, Coster said the situation was unique.
‘‘That was really disturbing, and I was pleased that our officers were able to resolve that situation safely. That wasn’t a pleasant situation, but I must say, very unusual. We don’t see that kind of thing playing out very often.’’
Coster said it was important to take a ‘‘long-term view’’ of recent incidents and not to draw too many conclusions too quickly.
But it highlighted the importance of the work police were doing to combat firearm-related violence and improve safety for frontline staff.
Improving skills for frontline staff is also under way, with 600 officers having already taken part in a new programme.
With the recent incidents, Coster said he was concerned for the wellbeing of officers and was focused on ensuring the organisation did what it could to keep its people safe.