Tuesday 9 June 2020

Another small green shoot of hope: New Zealand scraps armed-response police teams

Lest you thing that America is the only country making changes to how it approaches the matter of law enforcement this week, I present this report from SBS News:
New Zealand police officers will continue on general rounds without guns after huge community pushback on a trial of armed units.
The six-month trial was organised in response to last year's Christchurch shootings, in which Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant killed 51 worshipers at two mosques.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says feedback from the public has made it "clear to me that these response teams do not align with the style of policing that New Zealanders expect".
"I have made the decision these teams will not be a part of our policing model in the future," he said on Tuesday.
The decision comes after the police killing of African American man George Floyd in the US last month, which has sparked worldwide protests and conversations around policing and racism.
Do you remember when London's bobbies didn't carry guns, either? Did you know that most of them still don't? Armed response to all calls really isn't the only way to do law and order, and I applaud New Zealand for resisting the trend of militarizing their civilian police.

Baby steps, people, baby steps.

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