Editorial: Close call no reason to arm our police

IT CAN be a routine stop ... they happen every day.

Police pull a car over - it's so run-of-the-mill.

But how quickly and dramatically can that humdrum "May I see your driver's licence please" approach escalate into something chaotic and life threatening.

After all, we've seen it in the movies and on TV plenty of times - it happens to American cops all the time.

But forget the fiction. On Wednesday the reality hit close to home when an early-morning stop ended with two police officers injured and a huge manhunt through Raetihi, Ohakune and Waiouru.

A lot of days must be same-old, same-old for the police force, but the thing is you never know ... You never know when it is going to turn into a matter of life and death.

Officers accept that risk and, no doubt, weigh it very carefully when on the job. The general public mostly doesn't fully appreciate it - except perhaps when things turn ugly and it is front-page news.

The partners and families of officers will have a greater understanding of the fine line police tread. When the hunt is on for armed fugitives, they are left at home to wait and worry.

Officers have been confronted by armed offenders three times in the past 10 days across New Zealand and earlier this month the Chronicle was reporting on a man firing shots at Palmerston North Police Station.

Such incidents will likely bring a call for police to be armed as a matter of course. But one fears such a move would be the start of a slippery slope to the kind of random gunplay seen elsewhere and, despite this week's revelation of the kind of dangers police face, it is to be hoped such a call will continue to be resisted.