Editorial: Napier siege shows police at their best

Opinion

Talking relieves tension and when the tension lifts, the talk turns more critical. The end of the armed stand-off between police and a crazed gunman in Napier has brought predictable criticism in some quarters. Unarmed constables should not have been sent on a cannabis raid, say some of those shocked at the shooting of three officers, one fatally. Police should routinely be armed, say those ever-ready to exaggerate the level of violence and risk in our society.

Much remains to be learned about the gunman, Jan Molenaar, and his dealings with the police before and during the siege of his home that did not end until long after police knew on Friday he was dead. But on the face of events, police have acted impeccably.

Their response to the death of a colleague, Senior Constable Len Snee, was restrained and responsible, even as the officer's body had to be left where he fell in their line of sight. Armed units were on the scene quickly, more were flown to Napier from around the country. Army support was summoned. Meanwhile, residents within range of Molenaar's suspected arsenal were evacuated to safety.

Considering the evident state of Molenaar's mind, the circumstances he was in and the firepower he had amassed, it is remarkable that nobody else was injured or killed during a stand-off that lasted from early Thursday to Friday afternoon. It can only be thanks to the thoroughness of the police precautions and their handling of communications with someone hell-bent on his own destruction.

If there is criticism to be made of the police operation, it is in the excessive caution of their public communications after Molenaar's death. Nobody could blame them for saying so little about him and their operation when he was alive and very likely listening to every news bulletin about himself. But from 1.30pm on Friday they had mounting evidence that he was dead.

Communications from him had ceased about that time, when they had heard a single gunshot inside the house. By nightfall, they had fired tear-gas canisters into the building and moved in to recover Mr Snee's body, then a trapped police dog, bringing no response from the house each time. Yet next morning they still refused to confirm his death, and did so in deliberate terminology that left some media openly reporting that Molenaar might still be alive in the house.

Confirmation of his death could have been given more than 12 hours earlier than it was, which might have brought public relief and, more importantly, enabled evacuees to return to their homes before sunset on Sunday at the latest. They have been the unsung victims of this incident. To be hurried out of your home and unable to return for three or four days and nights would be an ordeal of its own. Public convenience does not seem to rate consideration in the aftermath of crime.

Even now, the police are reluctant to give a complete account of events, preferring to await investigations and inquests which, in these circumstances, can only be a formality.

But these are quibbles when the success of the operation is considered. So much could have gone wrong at any time in delicate dealings with a desperate and dangerous gunman, trained in Army territorial service and holed up in his home having murdered at least one policeman. He had a high-powered weapon, ample ammunition and explosives.

Hindsight wishes his collection had sounded warnings long before three good policemen went to collect his cannabis. Lessons can always be learned after a tragedy such as this, but hindsight is a poor critic. Police have to be prepared for the unexpected and to deal with it delicately and decisively. In this case they were seen at their best.