armed_cops1.png The association wants government policy to support frontline officers carrying Tasers fulltime, and to support the general arming of police.Photo: NZ HeraldThere are fresh calls for all police officers to be armed as New Zealand faces a "second wave" of drug and organised crime with significant international ties, a new report claims. The calls for police to be armed fulltime come after yesterday's Independent Police Conduct Authority finding that the Waikato Armed Offenders Squad was justified in shooting an armed offender who pulled a gun on a police officer. As organised crime increased, more sophisticated money laundering techniques were being used, which now include professionals providing legal, accounting and commercial investment advice, the report said. "New Zealand is not necessarily immune to the corruption that goes hand in hand with established organised crime," it said. "In recent years there have been cases of attempted or actual infiltration of police, and/or corruption of individual police members by organised crime."

Source: Otago Daily Times June 22, 2017 00:45 UTC