Armed police deployment “absolutely appropriate”

Friday 27 February 2015

The armed response to a “credible threat to kill police officers” earlier this month has been backed by the minister in charge.

Armed police mistakenly stopped two people earlier this month, after the officers were deployed following a threat that had been made to kill policemen.

The two men were released unharmed after what the Home Affairs Minister has called “textbook hard stops” on Sunday 8 February, and other armed officers later arrested a suspect.

Asked by Deputy Mike Higgins in the States this week if the police response had been proportionate, Deputy Kristina Moore defended her officers.

She said: “Yes, I do think that it was appropriate – the armed officers were responding to threats to kill an officer.

“It was absolutely appropriate to deploy armed officers in this situation.

“Although it was a case of mistaken identity, when one of the men stopped saw the photo of the person police were looking for, he himself acknowledged a very distinct similarity and absolutely understood why police officers had stopped him.

“I must emphasise that these were textbook ‘hard stops’, and in fact the commanding officer is considering using the operation as an example of best practice in training.”