Waitakere Hospital incident: guns need to be on officers’ hips

Yesterday’s armed offender incident at Waitakere Hospital shows that firearms locked in Police vehicles will, sooner or later, prove too far away to save a life, Police Association President Greg O’Connor said today.

“Armed incidents often arise out of the blue, and when they do, guns locked in Police cars are no good to anyone. Only a firearm on the hip allows an officer to take immediate action in response to a threat to life,” Mr O’Connor said.

“In this case an armed offender, who proved willing to use his firearm, was positioned between unarmed officers and their police vehicle. It was only through extraordinary bravery, in confronting the offender to distract him, that a firearm could be retrieved, allowing an arrest to be safely made.

“This incident could have unfolded very differently, with the offender shooting an officer, or a member of the public, or taking hostages. In this case we were lucky. Next time we may not be, and in the aftermath of a tragedy, we will be left rueing the fact our police are not equipped with a gun on the hip ready to take immediate action, unlike most other police forces in the world.

“The Association calls on all political parties in New Zealand to come to the realisation that the time has come to generally arm police officers, and not wait until an inevitable tragedy occurs which could have been averted by armed police,” Mr O’Connor said.

ends

© Scoop Media