Attacks reignite debate on arming the police

Renewed calls for police to carry firearms in the wake of attacks on officers are failing to gain momentum among policy makers.

The debate was reignited after four incidents during the holiday period – one in Dargaville where an officer was beaten unconscious and had his Taser taken from him.

Police Association vicepresident Luke Shadbolt said the holiday attacks were an indication of the serious assaults that were happening more often.

Many members of the association, who were serving police officers, were increasingly asking for general arming, which meant carrying firearms at all times.

‘‘We think it’s probably about time that that debate was held,’’ Shadbolt said.

But duty minister Judith Collins – former police minister and current justice minister – reacted warily.

‘‘As we’ve seen

in Dargaville, where a Taser was taken off a police officer, if that was a gun we’d probably be going to a funeral, actually, for a police officer,’’ she told NewstalkZB.

In recent years police had been provided with better access to firearms, as well as Tasers.

‘‘But . . . firearms in a close situation with a lot of people around can be extraordinarily dangerous for everybody concerned, not only for the offenders, but for police officers and for any innocent people,’’ Collins said.

Police Commissioner Peter Marshall was not available to talk about the issue.

In the past he has said he had not seen or heard anything that convinced him the general arming of police would improve the safety of police officers or the public.

Shadbolt said that if police were able to carry firearms, it would change the way they went about their business.

He said he did not know the full details of the Dargaville incident, but a Taser was only a very short range option.

He acknowledged that when confronted by a mob ‘‘really the only thing that can help is having sufficient police staff there to try and keep a lid on the level of the violence’’.

Shadbolt’s comments that policing was becoming more dangerous were disputed by Rethinking Crime and Pun- ishment director Kim Workman.

The rate of assault per sworn police officer had barely changed over the past decade, Workman said.

The call to arm police was ‘‘a calculated attempt to create unjustified public fear’’.

He said incident-driven policy change was a political tactic used by the association to portray policing as dangerous.

The last time it happened was in February 2010, when there were three serious assaults on police in a week. ‘‘It was quickly followed by the police union claiming that the public had lost respect for the police, and that such assaults were on the increase.

‘‘None of that was true – general public confidence in the police is very high, and the rate of assault per sworn police officer has barely changed over the last 10 years,’’ Workman said.