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An undercover officer killed in Auckland on Wednesday was shot several times, police said today.
Sergeant Don Wilkinson, 46, died about 1.45am on Wednesday after he and two colleagues were interrupted while installing a tracking device on a car during a drugs operation. One of his colleagues was
injured.
Superintendent Ted Cox today said a post-mortem examination had been completed and Mr Wilkinson's body had been returned to his family.
Mr Cox corrected earlier reports that Mr Wilkinson had suffered a single shot to the chest.
"It is confirmed both Sergeant Wilkinson and his surviving colleague were each shot a number of times," he said.
Mr Cox said Mr Wilkinson's funeral was likely to be held in Auckland late next week.
Investigators are continuing to examine the Hain Avenue property where the shooting took place as well as a storage facility where police found a quantity of chemicals used for manufacturing drugs.
Anti-stab vest
Yesterday, it was suggested an anti-stab vest could have saved the life of Mr Wilkinson - described as a "MacGyver" of the police force.
His colleague, who was wearing a vest, was injured but survived the shooting. Police said today his condition was continuing to improve but remained in hospital.
Police wouldn't reveal where the injured officer, aged 44, is wounded but Superintendent Ted Cox said body armour would be an aspect of the review of policy, practices and procedures arising from the murder of Mr Wilkinson, of Waimauku, just northwest of Auckland.
Asked whether a stab-resistant vest could have saved Mr Wilkinson, Mr Cox said: "We traversed those things with some of the family. Mum is happy. She said `my son knew the risks'.
"There is a difference between stab-resistant body armour and full ballistic armour [which] is heavy and thick and designed to take a high-powered sniper rifle shot in the chest."
Police believe Mr Wilkinson was killed by a 5.5mm slug fired by an FX Monsoon model 5.5-calibre gas power rifle fitted with a scope seized on Thursday, though forensic work to confirm this is ongoing.
Body armour can be a hindrance when fitting devices in confined spaces such as beneath a vehicle, as the men were doing.
Mr Cox defended risk assessment intelligence which did not indicate weapons were likely to be at the Hain Ave, Mangere, address.
Mr Wilkinson and a colleague from the police's covert technical support unit were installing a tracking device on a vehicle at the Mangere property while a third officer was present as lookout. Armed back-up was a block away.
The men were disturbed and fled on foot, pursued by two men in a car. They were shot about 75 metres from the target address before police back-up reached them.
Mr Cox said having armed back-up in visual contact with the technical unit members would increase the risk of detection.
Former policeman Cam Stokes said the work of the technical support unit was fraught and attracted a certain type. "It's one of those jobs people do because they love it," said Mr Stokes, who headed the now defunct specialist Auckland gang squad.
"They are electronics people, they are recruited because of their skills. MacGyvers, that's what they are."
Retired Detective Inspector Graeme Bell said: "They often operate with their hearts in their mouth and are always at risk of discovery.
"The thrust of covert ops is not to be discovered so they don't come face to face with offenders.
"Really they don't want to be carrying firearms because they have to carry equipment as well."
The Hain Ave property was a suspected methamphetamine laboratory but police yesterday said no drug-making material was found there at that address.
Mr Cox acknowledged the illicit drug business was characterised by violence and gangs and said such things were part of the assessment.
"If the risk assessment said there were guns in this place and we have to kit people up with full body armour we wouldn't actually do it that way because the risk would be too great."
Stab-resistant vests were "mandatory" for frontline staff because of the prevalence of injuries from people using knives and screwdrivers.
For covert staff, assessment was made job by job. "Certainly there was no suggestion from all the profiling of all the people and the address that there was any resort to firearms potential," said Mr Cox. "We take it as a given that at some level it's always there [as a risk] but nothing to elevate it to that next level where you say `Hey, let's not go there'."
He said the officers triggered security lights at the Hain Ave address but that was expected.
Police have seized the car believed to have been involved in the chase and are searching for a possible witness, a man seen by a stream behind Hain Avenue. He was described as wearing a hooded sweatshirt and had bare feet and dark skin.
Mr Cox said the Wilkinson family, though grief-stricken, were proud of their son and the work he and his colleagues did.
His mother was acutely aware of the damage methamphetamine can do "and the impacts of the type of operation that Don and his colleagues perform daily".
"She has some experience of that herself in her teaching role and knowledge of people who have suffered the consequences."
Cards, flowers and emails have poured into police stations as the public paid tribute to Mr Wilkinson, who was a keen squash player, outdoorsman, cyclist and guitarist.
A policeman for nine years, he had served with UN defence force detachments in countries such as Bosnia.
Two Pakeha men arrested over his death are due to appear again in court on September 23.
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The FX Monsoon rifle is understood to have been on the Hain Ave property and police yesterday said they found three pistols, one loaded, in a related raid on a storage unit.
Found with the handguns was 1.5kg of pseudoephedrine _ used in the manufacture of P _ while $120,000 in cash, $200,000 in gemstones and 15 gold medallions of unknown value were found in a search of a bank vault.
