In UK: Police Armed Diplomatic Protection Officer Wayne Couzens is charged with the kidnapping & murder of Sarah Everard - plus indecent exposure..
UK: Met. Police officer Benjamin Hannam was found guilty on all five charges including membership of the banned National Action group, making a false application to join the Met police force by not disclosing his membership of said group - and the possession of indecent photographs of a child.
In US: former officer Derek Chauvin is charged with the murder of George Floyd by kneeling on his neck while arresting him on suspicion of passing a forged $20 bill ..
New Zealand? - well there's plenty of recorded incidents of 'persons of interest' being eventually stopped after multiple police rounds fired .. indeed even an innocent van driver has been shot & killed.
It appears that firing dozens of rounds at fleeing suspects is "justified" under NZ Law as some variant of Self Defense? - It would be unfair for me to surmise that such shooting is the only opportunity these employees get to practice their skill with arms ..
A few day's training during induction - No Firearms Licence Required - and one annual Practice scheduled - provided it fits into the work load .. but if an officer is needed in court such range practice is deferred.
Police firearms are solely used as WEAPONS against offenders.
Licensed Firearms users are limited by police in NZ to only sporting purposes - as NZ Police regulation - NOT the law - specifically excludes self defense as a legitimate reason for Fit and Proper ownership of any firearm.
" Subjects’ arms. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law:"
Be very clear on this:
UNLICENSED NZ POLICE are authorized to use high capacity semi-automatic (and fully automatic sub-machine guns) WEAPONS with minimal training - BUT police anti-gun Senior Management now requires sporting shooters to register their sporting arms and to complete a THIRTY PAGE APPLICATION FORM for their fixed term F.Licence - and that pistol target shooters must attend a range TWELVE TIMES EACH YEAR to maintain their license endorsement.
Post-mortem examination revealed that the bullet that killed innocent Auckland Courier driver Halatau Tau Naitoko on Friday 23rd January 2009 was fired from a police gun by "Officer 84".
A second innocent victim Richard Neville was also shot and wounded by police in this incident
Officer 84 did not face any charge.
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Some Frontline Police officers have reportedly refused to go to high-risk callouts - As a result most frontline constables with at least two years service reportedly will get one extra week of training this year to help them cope with the increasing risks.
This Frontline Skills Enhancement Course will also help make use of the mothballed Police Training College in Porirua - which is not processing new recruits for the time being.
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ARMED NEW ZEALAND POLICE AT AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO OBTAIN A VALID ENDORSED FIREARMS LICENCE.
THE MODIFIED NEW ZEALAND FIREARMS ACT & IT'S MASSIVELY ENLARGED REGULATIONS NEEDS TO BE REVIEWED - CLARIFIED - RE-WRITTEN - AND REFOCUSSED SO AS TO ONCE AGAIN BE FIT FOR PURPOSE.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF NZ FIREARMS LICENSING MUST BE REMOVED FROM POLICE.
Marty K.
I have observed police 'training' at the club range where I used to shoot. Apart from the few who were also sport shooters, they competence was strictly 'beginner' level and worse. They gun handling would have got them thrown off a civilian range under control of a trained Range Officer (I used to be one of those, and also a holster instructor).
ReplyDeleteThat these tyros are let loose in public in often adrenaline charged circumstances is really scary. They carry dangerous weapons with almost no training, whit they make sure that all of us decent folk cannot do so.
At one time we had an annual competition with the police and we beat them so comprehensively that the last time we had the event we left our own guns locked away and we all used just one police Glock, with which most of us were completely unfamiliar at that time.
Yes, we beat them again by a wide margin. They were slow, inaccurate, couldn't shoot from any position but standing and were totally hopeless against a moving target.
It's a scandal that they are put in this position out on the street. It's not fair on the police officers, and it's not fair on the public.
All goos points Marty. We must keep at them till they do it right.
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