Call for Arms Act review after Napier seige

JAN MOLENAAR: Shot himself dead after a two day siege, in which he killed Senior Constable Len Snee.

Len Snee

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The Arms Act should be reviewed because only honest people obey it, the coroner investigating the death of Napier constable Len Snee says.

The comments come in coroner David Crerar's report into last year's Napier Siege when gunman Jan Molenaar forced the closure of central Napier for three days, keeping police at bay with an arsenal of weapons  including several military-style assault rifles.

Mr Snee was killed while two officers and a member of the public were also shot during the seige which ended when 51-year-old Molenaar took his own life.

''At present the Arms Act is only complied with by honest people,'' Mr Crerar said.

The policy of tracking MSSA's  military style assault rifles  and confirming the type of firearm that is an MSSA must be looked at again.

The Thorpe Report recommended the banning of all MSSAs, including those in ''sporting configuration''.

"Any actions by Police were not the cause of the death of Senior Constable Snee but were incidental to it," police said today.

"Jan Molenaar murdered Senior Constable Snee and then took his own life"

Superintendent John Rivers, of the Operations Support Group said a total ban on MSSAs was rejected when the Arms Amendment Act was being developed.  There were  already between 12,000 and 15,000 such weapons in the country including those used legitimately by deer hunters and shooting competitors.

The outcome  was to treat MSSAs the same as pistols and restricted weapons, he said.

Mr Rivers said police were already acting on all the recommendations made by  the Coroner.

Police had given "careful consideration" to the recommendations of the report which formed part of current police practice, although this was not necessarily expressed in legislation, he said.

Other recommendations by Mr Crerar include speeding up the rollout of the police digital radios, the programme of reviewing and simplifying police "General Instructions" should receive "prompt attention while procedures for executing search warrants should be upgraded to increase officer safety.

Mr Crerar said procedures for the execution of all Search Warrants by the police be upgraded to ensure that:

* All supervisors are aware of warrants being executed by their staff
* Adequate numbers of police officers attend the execution of search warrants
* There are improved tools and equipment available to staff and that appropriate training in risk assessment and other tasks is given
* There is a continuing monitoring of staff in their use of personal protection equipment

Mr Rivers said the digital radio rollout had already begun, with police in Wellington and Wairarapa having used the system since June 2009.
 
The greater Auckland and Canterbury regions will be switched over to the new system by the end of the year while the rest of the country would be covered by 2014.

"This is a complex, technical solution and it is being implemented as quickly as possible."

The review of police General Instructions began in 2008 and is almost complete. The review of the Operational GIs is 97 per cent complete, he said.

"Since the shootings of Sergeant Don Wilkinson and Senior Constable Len Snee there has been a much closer assessment of risks taken into account throughout the organisation when planning the execution of search warrants," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News