"And then the incident in Christchurch [in July last year] with Constable Mitchel Alatalo and Senior Constable Bruce Lamb. Once the shots were fired they had no ability to fight back," Mr O'Connor said.
In its law and order policy, revealed yesterday, the association called for general arming and more training for the inevitable greater use of firearms.
The Government has rejected that, instead opting for a lock-box of firearms in every frontline car.
But Mr O'Connor said that would still lead to situations where officers on the frontlines would be too far away from the guns that could save lives.
Police Minister Judith Collins, who introduced the policy, said general arming would hamper the relationship between police and the community.
"We expect a lot of our police in terms of their availability and friendliness ... proactive policing in a nice, friendly manner without having to use much force at all.
"I don't want to see our police end up like others where there's a great distance between them and the community they serve."
Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Batch Hales said the general arming of police would lead to an arms war between police and criminals.
"In countries where that's happened, the number of non-police shot has gone up a great deal."
Other aspects of the policy announced yesterday include lighter punishments for police officers and greater legal protections such as automatic name suppression for those involved in fatal incidents on duty.
Naming of officers had led to community stigma, with officers and their families fleeing to different parts of the country, Mr O'Connor said.
He praised the Labour Party's election policy of changing the 62 one-man police stations around the country into two-men stations, saying communities were often vulnerable when their sole was absent.
He warned that putting the squeeze on police resources could have disastrous consequences for public safety.
"A mantra of 'doing more with less' can quickly translate into 'trying to do too much with not enough' by the time you get to the frontline, and that can be very damaging, not only to service delivery but to morale, engagement, and organisational reputation."
But Ms Collins said she was not expecting "drops in police numbers and I'm not anticipating any drops in police budgets".
In pursuit of new powers
Police Association wants:
* All police constables armed, fulltime.
* Mandatory vehicle impounding, licence suspension and possible imprisonment every time a driver flees police.
* Reserving the best radio spectrum for police to ensure the best data transmission, including the possibility of live CCTV feeds and mobile fingerprint terminals.
* Imposing non-contact conditions on remanded prisoners so they cannot intimidate potential witnesses.
* Empowering police to intervene early before disorder can escalate into violence.
