Fatal police shooting...

Latest Police shooting...

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Nick Marshall (L) with his father Nelson, in 2006.

The fatal shooting of well-known mechanic Nick Marshall was the second police shooting in the Waikato region in as many months.

Since the early 1940s, police in New Zealand have shot and killed at least 30 people, almost all of them men.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) automatically investigates any incidents where an officer causes death or harm to another person. So far, the authority has ruled all fatal cases investigated have been justified. 

The IPCA investigates any incidents where an officer causes death, or harm, to another person.

Investigators will now probe the actions of detectives and armed offenders' squad members after 36-year-old Marshall was shot dead during a pre-planned raid targeting a methamphetamine operation in Hamilton on Tuesday. Police say the shooting, in the suburb of Frankton, was "unavoidable".

Assistant Commissioner Allan Boreham​ has said police announced their entry and fired shots after a man presented a long-barrelled gun.

The incident follows the fatal shooting of Mike Taylor at his Karangahake Gorge property near Paeroa in June.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor, ​said lethal force was the last thing an officer wanted to use.

A homicide inquiry is opened for all fatal shootings and the officer who fired the fatal shot would spend the next few days on that investigation and inquiries by the IPCA, O'Connor said. The authority cannot prosecute but can recommend a prosecution.

Greg O'Connor Police Union Boss.

"They [police] do an inquiry back to the police commissioner and he makes a decision if there's any criminal liability. He will do that in consultation with Crown solicitors. That's the criminal inquiry.

"The IPCA are there to ensure the police are doing it properly. They will look at policy, practice and procedure. 

"The officer who used lethal force, he or she, they will now be investigated for homicide. It depends on the circumstances but what's best is that the police officer is able to get back on duty. Generally the officer in the initial days will be taken up with the inquiry essentially, so they have to be available.

"The IPCA will get an investigator there.

"The public need to know there's someone there making sure the police aren't doing a cover-up. If we ever did get a rogue police officer the public have got to know with confidence we have a system that will pick it up".

O'Connor said it was unfortunate the IPCA does not comment publicly on investigations and relies on published reports. 

"It took three or four years in the past. Now it's much better. [?] The problem is when the reports come out everybody's forgotten it. [Now it only takes six months to 2 years plus, some improvement that is!]

"There are people grieving, there's a lot of grief. It's understandable people will be affected."

Police would open a homicide inquiry and the IPCA would send investigators to the suburb on Wednesday, he said.

"There seems to have been a belief that something has gone wrong. Quite the opposite.

"The fact the AOS are there means there has been some planning. General duties guys do not get the luxury of that planning."

Other recent cases include three fatal shootings in 2015 - Pera Smiler, 25, shot dead in Upper Hutt's Main St in September, Slovakian man David Cerven, 21, shot in Auckland in August, and Vaughan William John Te Moananui, 33, killed in Thames in May.

Criticism was levelled at police use of road spikes during a four-hour incident on Auckland's northern motorway in 2013 that led to the fatal shooting of Caleb Henry by the AOS, but the shooting was ruled as justifiable.

The accidental fatal shooting of courier driver Halatau Naitoko​ during an operation targeting Stephen McDonald was justified but lacked effective command and tactical control. The watchdog also criticised command and control tactics in the justified 2013 shooting of Adam Morehu at the New Plymouth Golf Club.

Armed incidents involve split-second decision making and are - by their nature - dynamic, chaotic and unpredictable.

Armed police carry Bushmaster rifles and Glock pistols. Of around 9,000 police, about 300 are voluntary members of the 17 armed offender squads around the country. Police also have three national Special Tactics Groups in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

"Fire orders" cover the circumstances in which police can use weapons and fatal shootings are immediately notified to senior commanders.

In the 27 cases investigated so far by the IPCA, police officers were found to be justified and lawful in their actions. 

Use of force by police on any citizen makes headlines in New Zealand, where the number of fatal shooting incidents is in double figures. In the United States, which has a much larger population and firearm usage, a fatal shooting is almost a daily occurrence. 

American police have killed more people in the last month than all New Zealand shootings since World War II. According to The Washington Post, police have killed 518 people so far in 2016 and 990 people in 2015.

A Kiwi officer is justified in using "necessary force" to overcome someone resisting police unless a warrant, or process, can be carried out in a less violent manner or an arrest made by other reasonable means.

Using proportionate force also applies to preventing an escape and self-defence and all law enforcement staff is criminally responsible for the use of any excessive force. In other words, the law says the least amount of force should be used. 

Lethal force may be used when an offender presents a threat of death or serious harm. Officers must give an offender the opportunity to surrender if possible and use less violent means if they can do so.

The question is: Did the police carryout the actions listed in the last paragraph? And will we ever find out the true story of what took place. see below earlier blog on police behaviour:

http://wheelerscornernz.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/more-gregg-oconnor-fairy-tales.html