It will be easier for the Police to seize illicit assets of criminals under a law change announced by the Government today.
Video / Mark Mitchell
OPINION:
New Zealand has a "major problem" with firearms according to the Police Association president Chris Cahill and, in my opinion, his concerns are being highlighted in data.
There was a 68 per cent increase in the number of Armed Offenders Squad callouts in the Bay of Plenty last yearcompared to 2017.
Peaking in 2020 with 240 local AOS callouts, there were 176 last year - up from 106 in 2017. Nationally, there were 1694 callouts last year, up from 1034 in 2017. Callouts were up in all police regions, with some doubling 2017 tallies.
Cahill says the increase points to a change in how police deal with events, with armed offender squads more often deployed to help mitigate the risk at the front end.
While proactive and sensible, the fact police have decided they must take this action says it all - frontline officers should be able to carry firearms or be given the option to be.
In response to firearms concerns, police began recording encounters with guns three years ago on the Gun Safe register.
Photo / Richard Robinson
Between March 2019 and November 2021, nearly 900 firearms were seized by police in the Bay of Plenty — 44 of which were prohibited by law. Figures showed local firearm-related deaths (four) and injuries (16) were the third and second-highest respectively in the country.
Meanwhile, it was reported in January that frontline police were encountering more than 10,000 firearms nationally — about 10 every day.
Police officers in New Zealand do not normally carry guns, but there are some exceptions, such as at international airports or for specialist groups such as AOS. Police policy and practice is for all vehicles to carry firearms in locked cabinets.
That's all well and good until an officer is caught in a situation where they don't have time to unlock the cabinet and arm themselves.
It's critical police officers are able to defend themselves, and in these trying times when they are encountering more guns than ever, arming them is the sensible next step.
Last year's association's biennial survey of 6000 of its 11,000 members showed nearly 75 per cent of all police, and nearly 80 per cent of frontline officers, wanted to be routinely armed.
Some will say arming police will only lead to more criminals being armed and therefore more gun violence in the community.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster are opposed to general arming, despite the latter regarding the escalation in gun-related incidents to be "unnerving".
Coster says there would need to be a "very high threshold" for him to move away from that position.
But life in New Zealand has changed, with officers already encountering more guns than ever before and the statistics backing that up.
In my opinion, it is better for frontline police officers to carry guns and not need them than to have them get caught unarmed in a potentially deadly situation. They and the public deserve that protection.
