Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says a new tactical response model from the police is not a move towards general arming.
Police have announced tactical response model on Wednesday. It will see 200 officers trained with skills used by the Armed Offenders Squad.
The plan will see the Government invest $45 million to fund police tactical teams, frontline training, intelligence analysis and extra staff.
Some in the community were concerned it was a step towards general arming, but Coster told Morning Report that's not the case and the teams will not be patrolling the community.
"They will not be used for routine policing and frankly they will have a whole lot of other things to be focused on when they're not required for the emergency jobs," he said.
Coster said the teams will spend their days either working with dog handlers, who currently can be deployed to risky incidents alone, or focusing on investigating organised crime, and high risk and prolific offenders.
"That will be their day job, but when required on shift to respond to something more critical then they can be called on by the front line."
Coster said the new model was consistent with the style of policing in NZ, where officers are generally unarmed.
"We believe our style of policing in New Zealand is different from many other countries and that's part of what keeps us and our community safe."
Covid-19 Auckland border enforcement update
Coster also commented on enforcement on Auckland's borders, which saw extra cars turned away after the city moved to alert level 3.
He said many of those turned away did not have evidence that they were entitled to cross, but believed they were able to.
"It's understandable people wanting to get out of Auckland, get out of that high alert area but now's not the time to be taking our foot off the pedal."
