All news channels this evening have been focusing on the tragic killing of a police officer in Napier. At the time of writing the seige continues and extra police have been airlifted in from around the country. TVNZ are providing regular updates on their website, and no doubt will continue to do so as the night goes on.
The police officer killed was Senior Constable Len Snee, and according to stuff.co.nz, is the 29th NZ police officer to be killed in the line of duty. The first was killed in 1890.
Everyone knows policing is a dangerous job, and officers regularly put themselves in danger to protect society from its worst elements. I wonder how these statistics compare to other countries? Only 29 in over one hundred years doesn't sound that high. I would hate to be a cop in Argentina for example. The Argentine Post reports that,
Between 1999 and today 408 police have been killed in the line of duty. These statistics are disheartening at best, frightening at worst.
It's quite hard to comprehend those kinds of figures. The Telegraph reports that "as many as 4,000 British police officers are thought to have died in the line of duty since the force was set up, including at least eight in the past four years."
The one thing that strikes me is that both Argentina and the UK have armed policed officers. They all carry guns all the time, and a lot of them get killed on duty. NZ police, on the other hand, generally do not, and only bring them out in exceptional circumstances. Even Tasers are not carried by every officer. And yet our police death figures are relatively low.
What do you think? Should all police in New Zealand carry guns? Would this have saved the life of Senior Constable Len Snee?
