Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
Police acknowledge the report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority which found Police were justified in using force to arrest a man in Palmerston North in July 2021.
Police had been searching for the man for a few months due to his parole recall warrant for accessing methamphetamine in breach of his release conditions. He had also been involved in a raft of serious incidents while on parole including four fleeing driving incidents, ramming Police cars as well as burglary and theft of cars using a firearm.
Efforts to locate the man had been unsuccessful until Police officers saw him in a vehicle in Palmerston North which then travelled to an address in the suburb of Milson.
Due to concerns around his access to firearms, AOS and PST quickly began setting up cordons around the address. Following voice appeals, the wanted man eventually came out of a garage at the address with his hands in the air but quickly dashed across the yard and escaped over a fence.
A chase ensued at which point a police dog was released by its handler. Two officers located the man, one fired a shot from their Glock which missed, and another used a sponge round launcher to fire two shots. One of the sponge rounds hit the man but it had little effect and he continued to run from Police.
He was located a short time later and taken into custody without further incident.
Relieving Central District Commander acting Superintendent Cliff Brown says this was an extremely fast paced job with an offender who was motivated to evade arrest:
“The IPCA found the force used against the man by two officers was justified. They had to make split second decisions to ensure the safety of the wider community, themselves, and their colleagues.”
“As is standard, we have debriefed this incident and taken onboard any learnings around how we communicate and run these types of operations. Our staff and organisation are always looking at how we can improve but overall, our officers did an excellent job in apprehending a dangerous offender,” says acting Superintendent Brown.
“We also note the IPCA found that police were justified in searching four people during the operation and had powers to do so under the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.”
ENDS
Issued by the Police Media Centre
