Total recorded assaults on Police - New Zealand Police Association

PoliceNewsThe Voice of Policevehicle or not yet arrived at the scene. Peoplewill die when we cannot defend them from theattack of a dangerous offender or arm them todefend themselves.Ask any policeman’s family who has lost aloved one like this and they will tell you theywould happily pay whatever it cost to havetheir loved one still with them. I have anenduring image of my colleague in Napier, inagony, giving his eulogy to his fallen friend - itis etched in my mind forever.We guard the fabric of society with noapparent thought as to who next will have theirname engraved in bronze? John Connolly,the cop who was attacked at Tuakau, faced asavagery only too common nowadays. He wasoutnumbered, stomped on and almost beatento death. He is a very brave man.We knowingly go forward to face danger whileeveryone else is running away or standing off- we shed blood, sweat and tears, we do notalways survive. Some officers never have afighting chance at defending themselves whenthey die. We are the thin blue line, neverending, never daunting, never say die – but wedo. Some fundamental principle of life mustbe recognised in our situation.Should we wait for more names on the wall?How many names will be enough? God defendNew Zealand and her brave police.Nick Hall(Auckland)The answer to your first question is ninepolice officers killed in that time Nick. Ninetoo many. – Editor.Health and safety on the frontlineI think we can safely say that policing isbecoming a more dangerous occupation.Much of society doesn’t respect authority like itused to. Back in my day, and I am a long in thetooth 39-year-old, if you crossed the line youwere likely to get the strap at school, a kick upthe bum from the local cop and then a hidingfrom Dad. That tended to engender a certainamount of respect, as I recall. Nowadays, ofcourse, the individual’s rights are sacred nomatter how anti-social the person may be.I’ve often been sadly amazed at how quicklyan offender becomes a victim if one of theirmyriad rights is even slightly impinged.Anyway, social-politics aside, I am acommunity constable in Dunedin and while Iappreciate that policing in this beautiful city isnot on a par with other places further north,we do still have our share of violent criminals.In this ever more dangerous world it hasbeen decided, by the powers that be, to placecommunity constables on tier 3 of the StaffSafety Tactics Training scale. This means thatwe will receive no Taser training, no firearmstraining and only four hours of Staff SafetyTactics Training (SSTT) training a year.Whilst I believe there is the perception thatcommunity constables do nothing but drinktea with old ladies, the truth is that we carryout search warrants, do 3Ts and fill gaps inGeneral Duties Branch (GDB) rosters. Forinstance, I worked a swing shift last Fridayand Saturday night, got into a fight whenarresting a skinhead and was then assaulted byhis girlfriend. This morning I have been askedto make a house call at an address where theoccupant has been stating that he wants to killsomeone.There is now talk of “roster to demand” whichwill require working more swing shifts andnight shifts.Now, don’t get me wrong. I am happy to workin the dark and I love being a cop. I recentlyresigned from the Armed Offenders Squad(AOS) and would rather bust a gang pad thangive a talk to the local knitting club. However,I demand the training to keep me safe.If Police National Headquarters (PNHQ)thinks anyone believes the SSTT tier systemis anything but a cost-cutting exercise thenthey have their heads in the sand. As far as Iam concerned, this policy will directly anddeliberately affect my safety on the street. I amstill required to be a frontline police officer butI won’t get the same safety and tactical training.Commissioner Broad’s response to thegrowing number of serious <strong>assaults</strong> againstpolice, or so I read in The Otago Daily Times(25 Feb), is considering extra guns locked inthe boots of ‘I-cars’. The civil libertarians areup in arms about it. They believe it to be awaste of time and point out that firearms in theboot of a car would not have stopped a singleone of the serious <strong>assaults</strong> that happened overthe weekend (20-21 Feb). For once, I am incomplete agreement with them.It seems that Police management are lookingback to a rosy past instead of forward to thegrimy future of reality. What we have is notworking and the answer is not more firearmswhere they can’t be accessed or reducing SSTTtraining for a large number of police officers,in order to save money. The answer is quiteobvious, however bitter a pill it may be.I will be talking to my local OccupationalHealth and Safety (OSH) representative if theplanned cuts in SSTT training go ahead. I urgeothers in a similar position to do likewise.Julian Real(Dunedin)Your comment about community constablesbeing placed on tier 3 is apt. The late LenSnee, who was killed in the Napier siege, andBruce Miller, who was seriously wounded,were community constables. The majority ofthose actively involved in the evacuation of thewounded, and subsequent cordons worked forYouth Aid, Prosecutions, Youth Projects, andYouth Education or as community constablesand various staff in sworn supervising roles.They seem now likely to be classified as tier3. – Editor.Website to support Police partnersI am writing on behalf of Behind the Line, whichis a website/forum designed to help partners ofpolice officers, be they male or female.We are hoping you will be able to let yourreaders know about this website throughyour publication. The website is: www.behindtheline.co.nzWe would welcome interested readers to havea look at the site but please be aware that theywill have to register if they want to go beyondthe introduction page.Behind the Line is a non-profit website runby partners of Police. It is not associated inany way with the New Zealand Police, thePolice Association or any other Governmentdepartment.So far we have 31 registered users, who allat one stage or another have been gratefulfor this website. It’s nice to know that thereare other people out there in our uniqueposition. It’s a place where we all feel safe andare able to discuss different topics and havean understanding of what others are goingthrough.At present we are organising a group gettogether in August/September in Wellingtonas a way of giving people a chance to meet upwith others from this site.Rochelle Cleary(Alexandra)Where are the critics now?The Dominion Post newspaper (25 November)reported that Wanganui’s “gangs have accepted(the) ban on patches” and quoting InspectorDuncan MacLeod as saying that the new antigangpatch law “appeared to be working well”and that he was “not aware of any resistanceduring arrests.”The Inspector went on to say that: “Thefeedback from the guys on the street is thatthere’s no sign of any problems and the gangsseem to be accepting it (the new law).”Additionally, Mayor Michael Laws said thatthere was anecdotal evidence that somegangs were now leaving the city and that thecommunity had noted a lack of gang coloursand insignia in the city and felt safer.I wonder if all those folk who criticised thenew law and said it wouldn’t work will nowstand up and say: “Sorry, I made a mistake.”Trevor Morley(Wellington)82April 2010