Lethal Risks and New Zealand Police / Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa (eBook)

This book examines the lethal risks faced by police and traffic officers in Aotearoa New Zealand. It tracks lethal risk volume and type across 134 years of the New Zealand Police/Nga Pirihimana o Aotearoa's 137-year existence. Using data gathered from public records, official government reporting, and comparative studies, it reveals the current situation with regards to lethal risks from 1886 to 2019. The book identifies and presents two lethal risk hierarchies, the first for the period 1886-1999 and the second for the period 2000-2019. The hierarchies establish that the lethal risks faced come from:

• Firearms

• Assaults

• And, potentially, Cutting/Stabbing attacks

It determines that the nature of lethal risk has not changed, but rather the volume has reduced, meaning today's officers are less likely to be harmed by lethal risk encounters than their predecessors were.

This volume is an ideal starting point for researchers and practitioners interested in developing further scholarly research on lethal force and lethal risks faced by law enforcement officers and the organization they belong to.

Richard Shortt joined the New Zealand Police/Nga Pirihimana o Aotearoa in 1977 and served until 2011. During the last decade of his career the author undertook two secondments to other New Zealand Government department roles. The first was with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the second was with the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service. Returning to policing, the author joined the Organised and Financial Crime Agency, focusing on combatting serious and organised crime. During his Police service, the author gained a Diploma in New Zealand Policing, a Master of Public Management degree, and following retirement, he completed a PhD with Charles Sturt University, in Australia. The author's first book 'Lethal Force and New Zealand Police - The History, Law, Practice and Reality of Lethal Force Use by a Well-Armed and Capable National Police Service' was published by Springer in 2022. The author now lives in Australia.