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The former police officer is questioning why an officer did not have backup with her in the car when two men shot him in Northland Tuesday morning.
The police car that was shot in Northland early Tuesday morning.
Photo: Supplied / New Zealand Police
They say the attack could have been different if it had happened in another part of the country where working alone is not the norm.
Three days after it happened, the attackers are still at large and officers north of Whangārei continue to carry firearms, while asking the public for information.
They say the officer is being supported, after escaping damage by backing her patrol to safety..
Former police negotiator Lance Burdett said the officer would have had a panic button in his car and a radio to talk to other members of law enforcement personnel, but is shocked and shocked that he had to “face the unexpected.” By herself.
He said working alone was never the norm for officers during his 22 years as a 111 shift manager, covering calls from Northland to Taupō until six years ago.
“When I was in charge of personnel, there was always a two-person patrol at all times. If there was someone alone, they were doing the job and the officer doing the correspondence, so certainly not on the street alone,” he said.
Other former police officers say there are no strict rules about working alone, but it is a reality, especially in rural areas.
Whangārei District Councilor Gavin Benney said he only attended calls for 30 years as a Northland police officer and constantly discussed it with higher ups.
He felt sorry for the officer involved in Tuesday’s incident.
“They call you in the middle of the night, it was four in the morning. She would have gone to the incident not knowing what to expect and every situation is different. Having the tools to be able to do the job is the most important thing. Something important,” he said.
“She would have gone to this without being prepared and without knowing what is going to happen, which is one of the emotions of the job, but it is also one of the dreadlocks. This is one of the situations that all the police who have been by themselves . “
Northland MP Matt King had also worked alone in his years as a police officer.
He agreed that “there is nothing worse” than meeting people with guns on a remote road, alone at night.
King blamed the general lack of police personnel.
“The posts need to be replaced and the front line is where they come from. I was in this situation myself working with a man in the middle of the night, 15 years ago, and there was no backup. It is not acceptable,” he said.
The two men who shot the police officer remain at large, which King said was “terrifying.”
Northland police carry firearms while investigating a possible link to a kidnapping in the area at the same time.
Burdett said being armed probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference to the officer who was shot.
“With all these kinds of incidents, the best thing to do is get out of the situation right away, regroup, and then come back and find people later. That’s exactly what happened.”
The police declined to be interviewed, but confirmed in a statement that “the presence of police units in a single team is not uncommon and occurs throughout the country, however, it is more frequent in rural and isolated areas.”
“When a unit attends a job and has only one crew, they go through the same TENR (threat, exposure, need, response) process as with all jobs,” said a spokesperson.
“The dispatchers at our communications centers will consider the safety of personnel as a priority both in the selection of the units to be deployed and in the instructions that are provided to them.”
They said the “particular circumstances” of Tuesday’s incident would be analyzed.
In an earlier statement, police said members of the public had submitted information about the shooting and were still interested in hearing from anyone else who knew about it.
