Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says changes to the tactical response model will in no way change New Zealand's approach to policing.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says New Zealand's unique model of policing is to remain the same. Photo: NZME
Yesterday, the government announced it would invest $45 million to fund improvements to the Armed Offenders Squad, including tactical teams, frontline training, intelligence analysis, and extra staff. Police Minister Poto Williams said the move was designed to enhance the safety of officers on the frontline.
Coster told Morning Report none of the new roles would be routinely armed. He said Armed Response Teams, which were rejected after a trial, didn't have community buyback because staff were armed.
"This model represents no change at all to police's arming policy," he said.
"It has been designed with the intention that we remain a generally unarmed service.
"The armed response teams were generally armed and they were patrolling in communities in that way and that's what give rise to significant community concerns. The model we announced yesterday was about ensuring we had appropriately trained staff available to respond when required. They will not be patrolling that way in communities and generally armed."
Coster said tactical teams would be sent into high-risk situations and would not target Māori and Pacifika communities, and would focus on high-end organised crime.
"The additional highly-trained staff will be available in two capacities - one, working alongside dog-handlers who presently deploy by themselves at the moment. They deal with some of our more risky incidents already. So they will be better supported and they will be available to deal with a wider range of incidents as a two-up vehicle.
"The other part is, teams who are presently focused on investigating organised crime and high-risk and prolific offenders. That will be their day job, but on shift to respond to something more critical, then they can be called on by the frontline.
"They will end up being used in situations of high-risk. Those will be where you have firearms being used in the community against police. In situations involving organised crime at the high end. 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."
Probe into Auckland couple's trip to Wanaka
Coster said it took longer than he would have liked to charge an Auckland couple for breaking the Health Order by travelling to Wanaka two weeks ago, as their city was in alert level 4.
William Willis and Hannah Rawnsley have now been charged with breaching lockdown regulations.
Coster told Morning Report said the nature of the alleged offending made it a complex case and that couple did not receive any special treatment from police.
"Obviously there is a bit of complexity where people have had a legitimate permission to cross, but then misused that in order to do something else. So it took us a while to work through all of that. But the charges are now led and they're in front of the court."
Coster would not be drawn on whether the couple would be charged with further offences.
"I won't comment on that at this stage. If the investigation team have anything to say about that we'll do so... I just shouldn't comment on the specifics of the case because it is before the court," he said.
Auckland border
The first day of alert level 3 in Auckland saw a significant increase in traffic, reflected in the number of vehicles turned away from police checkpoints.
Travel through border checkpoints remains strictly limited and only for personal or work reasons that have been approved.
Coster said people should not get complacent and attempt to cross to alert-level border without legitimate reason.
"Our staff are reporting a high numbers of vehicles and for the most part it's people who think they are entitled to cross but don't have evidence to demonstrate they are. So some of that might just be that the people aren't getting what they need to be able to cross, other cases it might be people misunderstanding the rules."
