Police acting on coroner's seige recommendations

Police say they are already acting on all the recommendations from the coroner who investigated the deaths of Senior Constable Len Snee and Jan Molenaar in last year's Napier siege.
Molenaar, 51, shot and killed Mr Snee and wounded Senior Constables Grant Diver and Bruce Miller, after the officers tried to carry out a cannabis search warrant on May 7. Molenaar eventually turned his gun on himself, ending the three-day siege.
In findings released yesterday, coroner David Crerar said he was confident lessons learnt would result in a ``reappraisal of police officer safety in the execution of similar warrants in the future''. But the major failing that led to both deaths was ``lack of appropriate intelligence''.
A number of the 17 firearms, many of them military style semi-automatics (MSSAs), that Molenaar had at his home were acquired from illegal sources.
``Each of the suppliers to Jan Molenaar of these weapons shares a responsibility for the death of Constable Snee,'' Mr Crerar said.
``If those supplying firearms ascertained, as they were required to do, under the Arms Act, that Jan Molenaar held an appropriate firearms licence, this would have been conveyed to Police Intelligence and Constable Snee and his companions would have been warned of the danger Jan Molenaar presented.''
Mr Crerar said there were deficiencies in the Arms Act and its enforcement.
``The policy of tracking MSSAs and confirming the type of firearm that is an MSSA must be looked at again.''
The 1997 report by Justice Thomas Thorp which called for restrictions of legal gun ownership and requiring that all guns be registered may have to be revisited, Mr Crerar said.
A bill was presented to Parliament incorporating Justice Thorp's recommendations but was withdrawn due to the weight of opposition at select committee hearings.
``At present the Arms Act is only complied with by honest people,'' Mr Crerar said.
The review was one of four recommendations he made.
He called for the rollout of police digital radios to be expedited, after being told officers searching Molenaar's house had been hesitant in using an unsecure channel to advise their location.
Mr Crerar also recommended: prompt attention be given to review and simplify ``police general instructions''; and upgrading the procedures to execute search warrants so that all supervisors are aware of warrants, adequate numbers of officers attend the searches, improved equipment is available and appropriate training in risk assessment is given.
Superintendent John Rivers, from National Police Headquarters, said police were already acting on all the coroner's recommendations.
``Police will shortly be recommending policy changes to the minister concerning the Arms Act,'' he said.
The national rollout of digital radio had already begun, starting last year in Wellington and Wairarapa, and proposals were being advanced to ensure the whole country was cut over by 2014, he said.
The review of general instructions was almost complete.
``The review of development of options relating to operational risk assessments is included in the substantial programme of work that has been instigated by the commissioner,'' Mr Rivers said.
``Since the shootings of Sergeant (Don) Wilkinson and Senior Constable Snee there has been a much closer assessment of risks taken into account throughout the organisation when planning the execution of search warrants.''
The coroner found that Mr Snee died as a result of wounds from gunshots fired by Molenaar and that Molenaar died from a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head.