Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Letters: One way to protect police

Whanganui Chronicle
20 Jul, 2021 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Photo / Bevan Conley NZME.

Photo / Bevan Conley NZME.

The recent increase in situations where the police are confronted with firearms whilst performing normal duties out and about in the community is justification for the issue of weapons to all police staff engaged in that line of work.

However, there is one major factor that will prevent this happening - staffing. To achieve effective security of personnel each patrol car must contain two officers.

A single officer getting out of a police car and approaching another vehicle with his Glock pistol on his belt is as vulnerable as an officer without a pistol as his reaction time cannot match that of a person getting out of a car with a weapon in his/her hand.

New Zealand is not yet ready for police approaching any situation with a drawn pistol such as the American way.

This is where the second officer comes into play by exiting the vehicle with a rifle (currently the bushmaster I believe).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This officer is then able to react to any weapons threat and will have a clear shot should the need arise. I say rifle as the effectiveness of a pistol is questionable over a distance of just a few metres.

Historical reports of the number of shots fired in order to subdue a suspect is an indictment of the pistol and its users.

A rifle is far more accurate and our 'brave' gang members will think twice before exposing themselves.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The chances of this happening are nil under the current police hierarchy and our nanny-state government and police will continue to be shot at whilst performing mundane duties.

D PARTNER
Eastown

Quite interesting

After reading Liam Dann's quite witty (for him) piece on interest rates (July 19) I had to decide which cliché to employ regarding his news about the Reserve Bank stopping its money-printing.

Should I say "the cat is out of the bag" or "too late to shut the stable door 'cos the horse has bolted"? Point is that our state-owned bank has demonstrated its capacity for putting fiat money into the economy, even though confined to purchasing the bonds so conveniently issued by Treasury to the capital markets for the banks to uplift.

Discover more

Russell Bell: Having fun the key to customer service

20 Jul 05:00 PM

Council wants ideas for Anzac Parade flood plan

19 Jul 05:00 PM

Letters: Matariki, an authentic New Zealand holiday

19 Jul 05:00 PM

Mind your beeswax! Whanganui product keeping plastic at bay

19 Jul 05:00 PM

Could have fed that $53 billion directly into DHB and local government funds but the foreign investors, who depend on public debt-servicing for their luxurious lifestyles, would have screamed blue murder.

Dann's claim that "interest" relates to a "legal" claim must be challenged. It was an ethical problem put to 13th century scholar, Thomas Aquinas, at a time his church condemned the taking of interest as usury.

Aquinas approved interest being charged where sacrifice is involved - existing wealth given to another for their use. Eventually goldsmiths and banks found they could charge interest on money "printed" when a borrower sought a loan – what economist, J.K Galbraith, described as a process which "boggles the mind".

Undoubtedly there is a role for modest interest charges on commercial transactions, but no ethical or logical excuse for charging it on public funding.

HEATHER MARION SMITH
Gonville

Title Here
Click here to email us a letter.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Ngāti Ruanui files urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim over mining project

02 Jul 10:42 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Why Whanganui is in for a warmer than normal winter

02 Jul 09:14 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

How a white picket fence symbolises a significant Whanganui family

02 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Ngāti Ruanui files urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim over mining project

Ngāti Ruanui files urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim over mining project

02 Jul 10:42 PM

The claim alleges breaches of Treaty principles in fast-track approvals process.

Why Whanganui is in for a warmer than normal winter

Why Whanganui is in for a warmer than normal winter

02 Jul 09:14 PM
How a white picket fence symbolises a significant Whanganui family

How a white picket fence symbolises a significant Whanganui family

02 Jul 06:00 PM
Rangitīkei fencer regains Golden Pliers title

Rangitīkei fencer regains Golden Pliers title

02 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP