Police (New Zealand)

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The New Zealand Police is a security agency responsible for ensuring security in New Zealand . It was founded in 1840 on the model of the British colonial power and today has around 12,000 employees.

organization

The New Zealand police from a national police commissioner with the official title of Commissioner of Police conducted. He is appointed by the Governor General of New Zealand for a three-year term. The New Zealand Police Department is divided into twelve regions, with each region having its own headquarters that directs and supports the smaller police stations in its area. In December 2019, 326 police stations were in operation across the country, with almost 12,000 employees and responsible for about 600,000 emergency calls per year.

history

The New Zealand police force began in 1840. At that time , six British police officers arrived on the island together with New Zealand's first governor, William Hobson . The design of the police work was then largely based on the example of Great Britain and the police units in its colonies such as the Royal Irish Constabulary . Many members of the newly formed New Zealand Police Department had previously served in British colonies such as Ireland and Australia . Over time, New Zealand's police force grew and in 1867 New Zealand's first own police law, the New Zealand Armed Constabulary Act , was enacted. During the New Zealand Wars , armed conflicts between the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand and the British settlers, armed police officers were involved on the side of the British colonialists.

In the early days of the New Zealand police force, the structure of the agency varied. While it was divided into two groups at the national level, one to carry out ordinary police work and one to support the wars against the Māori (called Armed Constables ), local police units were also formed at the provincial level, which acted independently of the national police. This led to the enactment of another law, the Provincial Police Force Act . The era of local police units ended after only two decades in the 1870s, because various regional governments could no longer pay their police officers due to an economic crisis. As a result, the decision was made to do without local police units entirely and to rely on a centrally organized authority, as it was assumed that this would lead to a more efficient way of working. In 1886 a new law called the Police Force Act was created for this purpose . As a result, local police units were disbanded and their employees were largely integrated into the new national police authority. At the same time, the concept of Armed Constables exercising army functions was abandoned and the New Zealand Army was founded.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the New Zealand police faced widespread allegations of corruption, inefficiency and political interference. The New Zealand Prime Minister Richard Seddon then asked the then London Police Chief Edward Bradford for advice in 1897. This recommended him to make the experienced London police officer John Bennett Tunbridge head of the agency. After Seddon agreed to the proposal, Tunbridge and his family moved from the UK to New Zealand and became the first professional police officer to head the agency. After taking office, Tunbridge set up a police reform commission in 1898. On the basis of the Commission's report, the New Zealand police force has undergone profound changes. The reforms included the establishment of a police training center, the establishment of a pension system, a performance-based promotion system, a maximum age limit and better overall pay. The reforms made the agency more efficient. They are considered to be the birth of the modern New Zealand police force.

In the following years there were repeated reforms of the police. The trigger for deep reforms in 1955 was public and government criticism of Police Chief Eric Compton. As a result, a function called Controller General was introduced. This is filled out by a civilian and is supposed to control the work of the police.

In 1992, the New Zealand Police were given the additional task of monitoring traffic. This had previously been exercised by the Ministry of Transport and local authorities. The establishment of its own highway police with the name Highway Patrol took place in 2001. In 2008, the Police Act 1958 from 1958 was replaced by a new law called the Policing Act 2008 . This was preceded by an evaluation phase of more than two years of the existing law, in which ordinary citizens could also participate with suggestions via a wiki .

The New Zealand Police have been involved in international operations to restore law and order in East Timor and the Solomon Islands . She also trained foreign police officers, for example in Bougainville . Other countries in which she was deployed are Afghanistan , Tonga , Thailand and Indonesia .

After a right-wing extremist terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch in March 2019 (see Terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch ), New Zealand police began a test phase in some areas for the permanent arming of police officers with firearms . As in motherland Great Britain and Norway, it is not common in New Zealand for police officers to carry a firearm at all times. In the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack, police operated a firearms buy-back website in 2019 as a public safety measure. On this, dealers could at times see the data of around 37,000 legal firearms owners, including the number and type of weapons and bank details.

Armed Offenders Squads

As in the mother country Great Britain, the police service in New Zealand is mostly provided by the officers without carrying firearms. So-called Armed Offenders Squads have existed in New Zealand since 1964 in order to be able to take action against armed perpetrators . A total of 17 such Armed Offenders Squads with around 300 officers exist in New Zealand . The reason for the founding of the squads was the murder of four police officers with firearms in 1963. The counterparts in Germany are the special task forces of the federal states.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Find Police stations by A - Z. Police New Zealand, accessed December 8, 2019 .
  2. ^ Richard S. Hill: Story: Tunbridge, John Bennett. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, June 1, 2017, accessed December 6, 2019 .
  3. ^ Paul Little: When traffic cops used to rule New Zealand roads. Noted, May 3, 2019, accessed December 6, 2019 .
  4. ^ Charlotte Graham-McLay: New Zealand police to start armed patrols after Christchurch massacre. The Guardian, October 18, 2019, accessed December 6, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Gun Buyback Scheme of NZ Police Leaks 37,000 Citizens' Data. Cisomag, December 4, 2019, accessed on December 6, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Armed Offenders Squads. New Zealand Police, accessed December 6, 2019 .