KEY POINTS:
A Palmerston North nurse says she will not be gagged by police after complaining her policeman partner had no body armour yet was working with dangerous people.
Katie Bool said after raising concerns in her local newspaper about frontline police officers who did not have body armour, her partner was spoken to by a senior police officer with the suggestion that she "might like to keep quiet".
Her partner was also advised not to discuss his work life at home.
But Ms Bool said she made no apologies for voicing her opinion.
"I don't appreciate being told to keep quiet by senior police staff when they are the ones that are obviously feeling uncomfortable with public knowing that there are under-equipped staff on the street," she said in the latest Police Association magazine, Police News.
She was "extremely concerned about the apparent lack of regard" police had for their own members and accused them of trying to sweeping the issue under the carpet.
Ms Bool, an emergency department nurse, she was horrified to see police working busy night shifts without protective vests.
"The ongoing excuse is that they do not have the correct size, etc - some 12 months after these officers were measured," she said.
Some members of the public had no regard for the safety of police officers and the increasing violence should worry everyone, Ms Bool said.
"I am sure the politicians and senior police in charge of the ordering and issuing of these vests would not would not enter into the situations the front line police officers are expected to without a vest.
"How many police officers have to be put in harm's way before this is addressed?"
She said some staff had vests but did not have to go outside in their role as police officers.
Central district police commander Superintendent Russell Gibson was not available for comment.
- NZPA
