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Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Editorial: Close call no reason to arm our police

By Mark Dawson
Whanganui Chronicle·
20 Aug, 2015 09:44 PM2 mins to read

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IT CAN be a routine stop ... they happen every day.

Police pull a car over - it's so run-of-the-mill.

But how quickly and dramatically can that humdrum "May I see your driver's licence please" approach escalate into something chaotic and life threatening.

After all, we've seen it in the movies and on TV plenty of times - it happens to American cops all the time.

But forget the fiction. On Wednesday the reality hit close to home when an early-morning stop ended with two police officers injured and a huge manhunt through Raetihi, Ohakune and Waiouru.

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A lot of days must be same-old, same-old for the police force, but the thing is you never know ... You never know when it is going to turn into a matter of life and death.

Officers accept that risk and, no doubt, weigh it very carefully when on the job. The general public mostly doesn't fully appreciate it - except perhaps when things turn ugly and it is front-page news.

The partners and families of officers will have a greater understanding of the fine line police tread. When the hunt is on for armed fugitives, they are left at home to wait and worry.

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Officers have been confronted by armed offenders three times in the past 10 days across New Zealand and earlier this month the Chronicle was reporting on a man firing shots at Palmerston North Police Station.

Such incidents will likely bring a call for police to be armed as a matter of course. But one fears such a move would be the start of a slippery slope to the kind of random gunplay seen elsewhere and, despite this week's revelation of the kind of dangers police face, it is to be hoped such a call will continue to be resisted.

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