National wants to bring back controversial Armed Response Teams to the police force after a recent wave of incidents involving firearms .
Police spokesperson Simeon Brown said ARTs were needed to better support frontline officers who faced “significantly increased violence, emboldened gangs, and rising gun crime”.
Brown said ARTs would give officers more confidence when dealing with armed offenders because they would know there was specialist back up for “acute situations”.
“The Government and the Police Commissioner caved to campaigns from left-wing pressure groups, leaving frontline officers without that additional back up and protection,” he said.
The call follows an overnight shooting in Auckland last week, which was thought to be the result of rising gang tensions . A man is also facing a raft of charges after allegedly stealing a BMW and carjacking a person at gunpoint in Auckland last week.
Last Wednesday, a man was shot dead by police after he fired at officers in Hamilton with a semi-automatic .
Meanwhile, the trial of Eli Epiha , who is accused of using a military-style assault rifle to attempt to kill Constable David Goldfinch last year, is ongoing. Epiha has admitted murdering Constable Matthew Hunt.
In the past two years, police in New Zealand have had a gun pulled on them or have been shot at least 44 times.
Brown's call for ARTs to be reinstated comes as National summed up its policies today to address gang crime and violence. The ACT Party also released new law and order policies this morning, calling for the "politics [to be taken] out of policing".
ACT leader David Seymour said Labour's "soft approach on crime" is increasing issues with gangs.
“We have stood up for law-abiding firearms users who have been punished for doing nothing wrong," Seymour added.
President Chris Cahill told 1 NEWS some officers are choosing to wear body armour more frequently due to the increased risk.
The six-month trial of ARTs was scrapped in June last year.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, at the time, ruled out a return of ARTs, after backlash from the public . He said the trial "created fear" in the community instead of increasing trust .
As the trial wrapped up, justice reform advocate Julia Whaipooti (Ngāti Porou) was among those who said ARTs disproportionately put Māori at risk .
On Friday, Coster told 1 NEWS officials were "looking at options" around the deployment of specialist groups, such as the armed offenders squad, in the wake of a "bad run" of gun violence. He again ruled out ARTs.
It comes after what the police are calling “a bad run” of gun violence, including a shooting overnight thought to be the result of rising gang tensions.
"We need to improve the availability of specialist groups to respond in the course of a shift," Coster said.
"Our armed offenders squad are only available on a call-out basis at the moment, so we are looking at options."
Speaking on Q+A on Sunday, Police Minister Poto Williams also ruled out routinely arming frontline police .
Williams said there were “opportunities for us to do things in other ways” when it comes to keeping police officers safe.
She said there would be “a different dynamic if we arm our police generally”.
“I don’t think our community supports general arming of the police, I certainly don’t.”
1 NEWS revealed in May last year that police knew its trials of ARTs had problems even before the testing started.
In October 2019, police launched its Armed Response Teams in three districts — Manukau in South Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury — which were effectively members of the Armed Offenders Squad on patrol.
However, the researchers evaluating it told police that the immediate start of the trial, its short length, and lack of baseline data meant its true value wasn't clear.
In December 2019, police were told again it was almost certain the trial wouldn’t provide enough evidence.
SHARE ME