POLICE SEEK ARMOUR TO PROTECT AGAINST ATTACKS

Criminals Using Speed A Threat To Officers

AUCKLAND (NZPA) -- Police dealing with increasingly irrational criminals
using methamphetamine have asked for lightweight, concealed body armour to
protect themselves.

Sergeant Colin Howard, from the Auckland police dog section, said yesterday
criminals under the influence of methamphetamine, also known as speed or P,
were often out of control and irrational.

He said they could not be reasoned with and were prone to use any weapons
handy to attack police.

He said some dog handlers had asked for lightweight body armour for
protection, to be worn under their uniforms all the time, but nothing had
happened.

"It is a major problem with P.

"The handlers are getting a bit annoyed. They [criminals on the drug] are
very violent. They can't be reasoned with. The dog handlers are at the very
sharp of the sharp end and they are having to deal with them," Mr Howard said.

He said many of the high speed pursuits were of drivers using P.

"That is why they are not stopping. They don't care about the
circumstances. When they do get them they are just fighting and fighting."

He said the body armour was needed to protect police not so much from
firearms but from other weapons such as screwdrivers and knives.

"We are looking basically at stabbing objects" Mr Howard said.

Two years ago, police studied the body armour issued to the special tactics
group and the armed offenders squad.

A spokeswoman from police national headquarters said all police issued with
firearms, including the uniformed branch, were instructed to take body armour.

She said about 1100 sets of body armour were available throughout the country.

In March 2001, the parents of a policeman stabbed in the stomach during a
domestic dispute paid some of the cost for body armour their son could wear
all the time under his shirt.

They told Prime Minister Helen Clark in an open letter the cost of the
armour was a tax on the family which should be met by the Government if a
public servant was put in danger because of their job.