This is a part of No Pride in Prisons’ Abolitionist demands. These demands were originally published as a book. To see a pdf of the book, click here. To buy a copy, please email info@noprideinprisons.org.nz
The New Zealand Police Association (NZPA) has been, for some time now, pushing for the armament of all police officers on patrol,[1] despite New Zealand Police officers already having access to firearms in all frontline squad cars.[2] The NZPA President Greg O’Connor claims that “we have reached the point where crime in New Zealand, as well as international trends to which we are not immune, make arming police not only inevitable, but necessary.”[3] He made this comment despite the fact that total reported crime[4] and total violence against police officers in New Zealand have been falling.[5] There is, however, no evidence to suggest that arming the police, in any way, reduces reported crime rates.[6] Instead, police armament serves only to increase the number of people injured or killed by police. With this in mind, No Pride in Prisons calls for the New Zealand Police to be disarmed entirely, including a ban on the use of tasers and police dogs.
Recently, the NZPA has restated its support for complete police armament, claiming that “some 70 per cent of frontline police said they should be armed.“[7] The timing of this suggestion was particularly troubling, as it came in response to two fatal police shootings within one week.[8] While the number of fatal shootings by police has increased by 160% in the last 10 years,[9] policing remains a profession that is less dangerous, in terms of injuries and fatalities, than farming.[10] This means that there is absolutely no reason to allow easier access to guns for police officers in order to ‘keep them safe,’ and that to do so would risk further escalation of police violence.
Additionally, No Pride in Prisons affirms that the use of tasers by police should be banned. While considered a less violent alternative to firearms, tasers are used by police to torture their victims by sending extremely painful electric shocks through their bodies. The use of tasers often proves seriously dangerous and sometimes fatal to those with pre-existing heart problems,[11] with the New Zealand Police having killed at least one person by taser.[12]
No Pride in Prisons also calls for an immediate end to the use of dogs by police. Despite the fact that police initiate dog attacks in only 4.7% of incidents where force is used, injuries caused by dogs account for 22.4% of all injuries caused by police.[13] When the New Zealand Police makes a dog attack someone, there is an 86.3% chance that that person suffers an injury.[14] The use of dogs by police constitutes one of the most dangerous points of contact between police and the population. No dog deserves to be weaponised by state power, and no person deserves to be deliberately mauled by an animal.
Further, the New Zealand Police uses force against Māori at seven times the rate it does against Pākehā,[15] Māori are more likely to be tasered and have dogs set on them than non-Māori,[16] and 56% of those who have been killed by police are Māori.[17] This demonstrates that police armament facilitates further racist violence against tangata whenua.
Although disarming the New Zealand Police would not prevent all the violence it enacts, it would mitigate that violence, as well as reduce the likelihood of death and injury at the hands of officers. Therefore, No Pride in Prisons demands that the New Zealand Police be disarmed entirely.
[1] Greg O’Connor, “Greg O’Connor: Time to Get Real and Arm Our Police,” NZ Herald, 16 October 2014. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11342965.
[2] David Maida, “Two Police Shootings in a Week Renew Calls to Limit Officers’ Access to Firearms,” Stuff, 14 July 2016. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/82120503/almost-one-dead-every-year-from-police-shootings-in-last-decade.
[3] New Zealand Police Association, “Police Association Conference calls on Commissioner to arm Police full time,” New Zealand Police Association, 22 October 2014. https://www.policeassn.org.nz/newsroom/publications/media-releases/police-association-conference-calls-commissioner-arm-police-ful.
[4] Statistics New Zealand, “Annual Recorded Offences for the Latest Calendar Years (ANZSOC),” Statistics New Zealand, 14 May 2016. http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE7405.
[5] “Warning On Calls to Arm Police,” Radio New Zealand, 24 October 2014. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/257660/warning-on-calls-to-arm-police.
[6] Radley Balko, “Paramilitary Police Don’t Make Us Safer,” CATO Institute, 15 April 2010. http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/paramilitary-police-dont-make-us-safer.
[7] David Maida, “Two Police Shootings in a Week Renew Calls to Limit Officers’ Access to Firearms,” Stuff, 14 July 2016. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/82120503/almost-one-dead-every-year-from-police-shootings-in-last-decade.
[8] Ibid.
[9] No Pride in Prisons, “No Pride in Prisons: Cops Should Not Have Guns,” Scoop, 17 July 2016. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1607/S00188/no-pride-in-prisons-cops-should-not-have-guns.htm.
[10] Jill Galloway, “NZ Farms Most Dangerous Workplace,” Stuff, 19 February 2015. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/66380498/nz-farms-most-dangerous-workplace.
[11] Erica Goode, “Tasers Pose Risk to Heart, a Study Warns,” The New York Times, 30 April 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/health/research/taser-shot-to-the-chest-can-kill-a-study-warns.html?_r=1.
[12] Marty Sharpe, “Man Dies While Being Arrested by Police in Napier,” Stuff, 13 March 2015. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/67315196/man-dies-while-being-arrested-by-police-in-napier.
[13] New Zealand Police, NZ Police Annual Tactical Options Research Report #3, (Wellington: New Zealand Police, 2014).
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Fightback, “Policing the Colonial Project of Aotearoa New Zealand (Voices of Women and Gender Minorities,” Fightback, 15 September 2015. https://fightback.org.nz/2015/09/15/policing-the-colonial-project-of-aotearoa-new-zealand-voices-of-women-and-gender-minorities/.