The Police Association has voted unanimously to demand that all officers be allowed to carry guns, Radio New Zealand reports.
Delegates at the association's conference approved the motion yesterday, calling on the Police Commissioner to start the process of arming officers immediately.
A similar call from the association in 2010 prompted the New Zealand police to place guns in lock-boxes inside front-line patrol cars.
Association president Greg O'Connor said guns in patrol cars were still too far away to provide protection for police officers and the public. Having firearms locked up was not helpful in an unpredictable situation like the shootings in Canada yesterday.
Nine police officers had been shot in as many months, and at least two would still be alive if they had been armed, he said.
Police Minister Michael Woodhouse said he backed the Commissioner's view that police did not need to be armed generally.
Reassuring to hear the Police Commissioner strongly push back against the Police Association's knee-jerk call to arm cops.
— Hayden Eastmond-Mein (@h_yd_n) October 23, 2014
