POLICE FORCE

Should Police Force Be Armed In New Zealand?

Should Police Force Be Armed In New Zealand?

Parliamentary debate on Taser on August 27 said the anti-democratic nature of decision-making process. Police Minister Annette King announced that, although widely already decided to introduce Tasers, the Commissioner nevertheless wanted politicians to "express their views" and offer "guidance" on this issue. King called it an unprecedented action, and one that reinforced the "Convention on the police consent." She told Radio New Zealand that are trying to stamp parliament Wide showed its commitment with the participation of elected representatives and give people the opportunity to express their opinion. " In fact, there was no discussion at all. Labor government came into the national, New Zealand First party and the far-right parties in the ACT Police echoed the line: that Tasers were needed as a "less lethal" alternative to firearms.

Nevertheless, even this gesture toward the parliament was too much for New Zealand Herald, which used its August 30 editorial condemning Broad's "unwanted vibrations and, worse, the unfortunate politicization of the issue through its transmission to the deputies." Paper stated that "a successful 12-month trial in Auckland and Wellington have quelled any concerns about the ability of police to use weapons properly and the potential to cause lasting injury."

In the same vein, Sept. Dominion Post two editorials argued that "policy should not distort the debate about a serious problem. It should not be hysteria about the health risks associated with being at the wrong end of a stun gun." In other words, the police themselves should be allowed to decide unilaterally.

In fact the corporate media play a key role in this process. The police report on the Taser trial boasts that "media coverage of court, usually in support of the tone, with reports of increased levels of support from 72 percent prior to the trial to 82 per cent of reports after the completion of judicial proceedings."

Imagine of Taser as an essentially harmless hoax device. New Zealand mental health authorities have widely denounced weapons. During the probationary period, Taser to the teeth, police encountered 27 people with mental disorders, one third of whom were subjected to shock Taser. Aug. 29 college mental health nurses expressed their concern "to hear what people in the spiritual health crisis remains one of the target groups for the use of tasers. CMHN noted that" the decision to introduce Tasers ...