No Pride in Prisons: Cops Should Not Have Guns

No Pride in Prisons is calling for the New Zealand Police to be disarmed following a surge in police violence.

“We were shocked to hear about the brutal murder of a Hamilton man by police this week,” says No Pride in Prisons spokesperson Kiran Foster.

The group says that public safety from police violence is a major concern. “The police have shown that they cannot be trusted with firearms. The shooting of a man in Rotorua so soon after the murder in Hamilton makes it clear that minimising violence is not their priority.”

“New Zealand Police are often too eager to use force against people. 2015 data shows that police use force against people almost once an hour.”

“To make matters worse, police are much more likely to use force against Māori than non-Māori. An independent researcher has reported that between 1995 and 2015, 56% of the situations where the New Zealand Police used lethal force were towards Māori.”

No Pride in Prisons is concerned that the growing use of guns by the New Zealand police is starting to mirror American police violence.

Data released to the group by University of Canterbury criminologist, Professor Greg Newbold, shows that there has been a substantial increase in the number of people being killed by police.

“Comparing the years 2006-2016 to the previous decade, there has been a 160% increase in the number of police killings. In fact, this decade has seen the most police killings on record.”

“Officers are too quick to assign blame, get angry, aggravate the situation and eventually use force.”

The group is calling for the immediate suspension of the use of firearms by police. “We have to keep our communities safe from police violence.”

“This is not the first time the New Zealand Police have used unnecessary lethal force. We demand that it be the last.”

ENDS

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