The incident in the Manawatu of yet another police officer being shot at will be the tip of the iceberg if laws do not get changed, says Sensible Sentencing Trust.

“This is a culmination of years of inaction from consecutive governments across the spectrum of contributing factors that has created this ‘perfect criminal storm’. Increased gang numbers, uncontrollable illegal gun markets, increased use of methamphetamine, and a total lack of respect for our men and women in uniform, says Darroch Ball spokesperson for Sensible Sentencing Trust.

“If we don’t dramatically change our laws to protect our officers there will be more who are attacked, shot and killed."

“The Trust backs the full arming of Police and introducing minimum mandatory prison periods for those who assault police, and sentences with no chance of parole for those who murder a police officer on duty."

“We cannot continue to stand by and allow police to be confronted with increasing numbers of shooting incidents, increasing gang numbers, and increasing levels of drugs and violence. Something needs to change, or we will see more tragic outcomes."

“The ultimate priority should be the protection and safety of our police officers who are being placed in increasingly dangerous situations as part of their duty."

“We need to send a message to those criminals that we stand by our police officers, says Mr Ball.

“We need these laws to protect our protectors.”
 

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