South Auckland armed police announcement sparks community rally

Friday, 25 October 2019

Police Commissioner Mike Bush announced a trial of the new Armed Response Teams in October 2019.

A public rally will be held over the launch of an armed police team in south Auckland.

The six-month pilot was announced by Police Commissioner Mike Bush last Friday.

Bush cited the March 15 terror attack and the growth in organised crime as factors to justify the launch.

But it has drawn public criticism around the risks to the area's predominantly Māori and Pasifika community, with a criminology researcher saying it's the start of 'American-style racist police killings'.

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Auckland councillor for the Manukau ward, Efeso Collins, said the decision to have armed police teams in south Auckland was 'poorly thought out'.

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Emmy Rākete, a teaching assistant in criminology at the University of Auckland, said she was irate when she heard the announcement.

'There was no democratic input but an unelected police bureaucrat decided that hit squads will be patrolling some of the brownest neighbourhoods in the country.

Auckland resident Emmy Rākete is organising a rally to protest against police's new armed response teams.

'I'm a criminologist by training, that's what I do for teaching. We know very early that Māori are eight times more likely to be the victims of violence than Pākehā.

'Police are out there with assault rifles. It's only a matter of time before we start to see American-style racist police killings.'

Rākete has organised a rally at Manukau Square on November 2 in a bid to stop the trial.

New Armed Response Teams (ARTs) will start in Auckland's Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury.

Unlike existing armed offenders squads (AOS), staff in the new units would be deployed full-time.

Bush earlier told media that since the terror attack, police had responded to 1350 reported firearm offences and been shot at eight times.

It wasn't clear if that indicated a real increase in firearms incidents.

Efeso Collins, Auckland councillor for the Manukau ward, said the decision was 'poorly thought out'.

'Society doesn't acquire peace by putting more armed cops on the street … both the Minister of Police and his Commissioner should recoil from this trial.

'Of all the people shot by police in the last 10 years, two thirds were Māori or Pacific.

'The disproportionate use of firing on these communities is indicative of implicit bias – the very bias that the Police Commissioner has publicly recognised.'

Increased police concerns about armed criminals came despite gun buyback and amnesty programmes initiated after the terror attack.

Almost 30,000 firearms had been surrendered. The amnesty ends on December 20.

Māngere-Ōtāhuhu board member Lemauga Lydia Sosene said there had been a number of recent incidents involving firearms in the community.

'As a lead in the community, that is of real concern, in particular in our area Māngere/Ōtāhuhu.'

Sosene would hope that at the end of the trial, data would be available for public scrutiny.

'It's about giving us the information, what is the trial and procedure and how does the community continue to go forward feeling safe?

'There are a number of individuals and community groups who don't like police being armed but on the other side of the coin, how do police keep themselves safe?'

Ōtāhuhu Māori warden Thomas Henry said while he felt there was an increasing problem with drugs and violent assaults in south Auckland, he didn't believe more armed police would solve the problem.

'Our streets are not getting any safer, [we need] more patrol cars out and need more volunteers groups like the Māori wardens to be the eyes and ears of our communities.'

The trial is set to launch on Monday.

Additional reporting by Ripu Bhatia.