Time to arm police?

The fatal shooting of an armed man in Upper Hutt last week – as Police Commissioner Mike Bush later pointed out – again highlights the unpredictable and dangerous work police sometimes must do. This was one of several armed incidents in recent weeks. Bush emphasised they are rare (as was the police use of lethal force) and police staff have the necessary training and a ‘‘full range of tactical options’’ to respond.

Police Association president Greg O’Connor, who for some time has advocated an armed force, says these shootings show the Government and police chiefs are out of touch. Bush, on the other hand, endorsed a newspaper editorial which said the police and public are safer if police do not wear guns in their everyday work.

This country can be proud of the professionalism and discipline of its police. But misjudgements are inevitable. The Independent Police Conduct Authority last month found the use of force by an Auckland officer while helping arrest a burglary suspect was excessive, unjustified and illegal. The suspect was struggling, sure enough, but while he was on the ground the officer ‘‘put his boot down forcefully’’ on his head at least two times.

Three other officers raised concerns with their supervisors about the ‘‘stomping’’ and level of their colleague’s aggression.

If all officers are armed with guns, aggression and bad judgement can only result in unarmed offenders being shot dead. Worse, the suspects may be innocent of any crime.

Police Minister Michael Woodhouse seems curiously content to be side-lined on the matter of how heavily the police should be armed. A significant change of policy was made recently to arm all frontline police officers with Tasers while on duty.

Woodhouse was told only after police had made their decision, according to a newspaper report, and his spokeswoman confirmed that any decision to arm police with guns would be the commissioner’s call.

Woodhouse regards this is as an operational matter. It isn’t.

It is right for the police to act independently of the Government in carrying out law enforcement decisions but having a police force with guns on their hips should be a matter for the public to debate and the Government to decide.

To suggest otherwise means the police are not accountable to the public through their Minister.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR