Gunslinging Kiwi cops opposed

Police should be physically dealing with criminals more often instead of making arrests after spraying, Tasering or shooting them, says retired career cop Harry Quinn.
The Wairarapa-based former detective inspector, who retired in 2008 after 39 years in the force, was speaking in the wake of a departmental review of police access to firearms.
He said police in New Zealand had fallen victim to an unintended consequence of policy that has officers routinely baulking at physical confrontation and instead using sprays, Tasers, batons and guns.
"We should have more police punching people in the face," Mr Quinn said.
"It might seem an outrageous statement but surely a punch in the nose and a little bleeding while you're being handcuffed is preferable to being shot in the chest," he said.
He said he had witnessed the lives of two workmates "destroyed" after they survived being shot on the job, and had watched as politics and public perception changed everyday policing.
"An awful thing that developed in my time is the parade of concerned citizens who scream police brutality every time an officer is seen fighting or punching people," Mr Quinn said.
"Police can't wrestle somebody to the ground or use a headlock because people call it a chokehold and cry out that somebody might die.
"That has forced arm's-length policing, using defensive weapons like Tasers, pepper spray, extendable batons ... and firearms."
Mr Quinn is opposed to the general arming of frontline officers and believes public discussion of the issue "could paint a target on every officer's back".
He said policy-makers should focus on "the science of policing" and commission studies comparing armed and unarmed officers and the risks that each scenario poses to their safety.
Mr Quinn said some international studies have shown police officers are not necessarily made safer when armed.
Discussion should centre on frontline police having rapid access to firearms when needed and not on putting a gun at the hip of every officer, he said.
"The debate should be private and dispassionate, without the Police Association adding emotion by saying that every minute we waste not arming police another officer could be shot - that's just emotional rubbish.
"The reckless criminal, regardless of the outcome of the debate, could be led to believe that every officer will be armed and that criminal is more likely to shoot at police.
"I'm not talking about the drug-affected or mentally impaired or somebody with a vendetta, but the criminal who believes that 'police were armed, so I shot the man'.
"I worked as a detective through a period when heroin trafficking was rife in New Zealand - Mr Asia and crews like that - and a lot of those same offenders routinely carried firearms.
"But I don't recall any officers being shot while investigating or making arrests during any of those cases - and we were often armed as well."
Mr Quinn said the armed offenders squad is a very effective unit and present protocols for arming frontline police are already robust.
"Police officers do have access to firearms, which are in some cases already carried in lockers in cars - and some officers are armed constantly throughout their deployment."
Mr Quinn said he had often carried a pistol while working as a detective and had drawn but never fired a weapon while on duty.
The Police Association, at its annual conference in Wellington last week, called for the general arming of all frontline officers, a day after Prime Minister John Key and Police Minister Judith Collins put the move on ice.