Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Caution needed on calls to arm police

Kelvin Davis
Associate Police Spokesperson

24 October 2014

Caution needed on calls to arm police

There is no justification for routinely arming our police and doing so would change forever the way officers interact with their communities, Labour’s Associate Police spokesperson Kelvin Davis says.

“As one of the few organisations distinguished by its unarmed status, our police do an incredible job. An unarmed police force sends a strong symbolic message that the police trust the public, and in turn that results in New Zealanders trusting the police.

“There have been repeated calls for officers to carry guns and there is an obvious need to weight up safety concerns with putting police at risk.

“On the other hand there is no strong evidence to show that the public, or police, are safer if officers are armed. In fact arming police can have the opposite effect - with weapons being used against police or the public if they fall into the wrong hands, and escalating conflicts.

“As someone with a brother in the police force I am acutely aware of the need to balance the safety of both police and the public,” Kelvin Davis said.

ENDS

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.