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New Zealand Fisheries gears up to face violent poachers
stuff.co.nz
17th February 2003
Fisheries officers are using speed handcuffs and trialling anti-stab vests as they look for new ways to defend themselves against increasingly violent poachers.
Though speed handcuffs have been used for six months to help protect officers, Wellington regional compliance manager Ross Thurston said officers throughout New Zealand were also trialling anti-stab vests.
"It's a defence . . . they (the offenders) always got access to knives, screwdrivers and spearguns."
A report on the trial is expected in about a week.
The Fisheries Ministry is also considering introducing batons and pepper spray. Mr Thurston said compliance staff hoped they would get the green light to carry the extra protection.
The ministry's safety instructor, New Plymouth fisheries officer Brad Dannefaerd, said that since tough penalties for paua and crayfish offending, including jail terms, were introduced in October 2001, more poachers were threatening and attacking officers.
"There is a realisation among staff that the situation is becoming really dangerous."
Speed handcuffs, which consist of the two wrist rings joined by a solid connection rather than the chain used in standard handcuffs, are designed to give quick and easy control of a violent person simply by twisting the solid connection.
Though officers had been issued with the handcuffs in the past six months, Mr Thurston was not aware of them being used "to their full extent" in the Wellington region.
They gave officers confidence they could subdue offenders, he said.
Officers were allowed to use force in arresting offenders or defending themselves against attack. This included blocking the carotid artery as a last resort.
Ministry national compliance manager Dave Wood said he was preparing a report for senior management on the proposal to arm officers with pepper spray and batons.
"It will require a law change to the Arms Act," he said.
Officers spoken to by The Dominion Post said they faced offenders more dangerous than those confronted by police but lacked equipment that was routine for police. Napier fisheries investigator and former police officer Dave McLellan said gangs were increasingly taking over paua poaching, especially on the East Coast, increasing the likelihood of violent encounters.
"Obviously we would like pepper spray and batons as defensive weapons. The majority of fisheries officers are ex-police and they have been used to being equipped in that manner."
The Dominion Post
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