With another police officer conducting a routine traffic stop in Hamilton and being shot it is yet another example of the need for our frontline officers to be armed, says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust.

“This is a clear matter of our officers not having the equipment they need to protect themselves and members of the public.”

“The number of firearms being brandished at officers daily, and the marked increase in officers being shot at, can no longer be ignored.”

“Police Association President Chris Cahill has stated that officers are feeling increasingly unsafe in the community. How can they be expected to do their jobs when they are clearly falling behind the ever-increasing threat level that our communities are presenting to them on a daily basis?”

“With the increase in gang numbers, tensions, and violence on our streets our police need to be able to not only protect themselves and our community but to actively deal with and combat the threats they are exposed to.”

“Arming police will obviously need to be accompanied by intensive training and management, a structured roll-out, as well as with the additional use of body-cameras.”

“This is a move that is well overdue.”

“Sensible Sentencing has been calling for our frontline officers to be armed before it is too late. It is only by a matter of luck that in the latest incident the officer wasn’t killed," says Mr Ball.

“It might not be the case the next time it happens.”

© Scoop Media