Lethal Risks and New Zealand Police / Nga Pirihimana o Aotearoa Contemporary Analysis of Lethal Risks arising from Subject–related Interactions and Interventions by Law Enforcement Officers in a National Police Service

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.

in Aotearoa New Zealand, and sets out key elements of this work.

Chapter 1, describes the rationale behind this book and what it seeks to achieve. The chapter

contains the author’s definition of lethal risk and what separates it from other risks

encountered by officers. (7/3228) (Page/Words: based on 500 words per page)

Chapter 2, details the methodology used by the author for the gathering and analysis of data

for the book. (10/4946)

Chapter 3, discusses risk management at the organizational-level and how the concepts of risk

management can be used to manage organizational exposure of employees to lethal risks. The

chapter uses the example of the risk of illegal use of firearms. (17/8551)

Chapter 4, discusses risk management at the tactical-level, and how the concepts of intent and

capability can be used by officers to assess the risks they face. (??/???? work in progress)

Part 2, contains an overview of the key variables involved in the analysis – population at both the

Country and organizational levels. It also discusses who actually faces lethal risks in the New Zealand

Police/Nga Pirihimana o Aotearoa. It contains two chapters in which the author analyses both publicly

available reporting and official data sources regarding the level of risk faced by officers in the past and present

day.

Chapter 5, discusses key variables that impact the analysis of lethal risk data including

population shifts, officer numbers and who it is within policing that actually face lethal risks.

(7/3237)

Chapter 6, presents analysis of publicly available reporting on lethal risk encounters by police

and traffic officers between 1886 and 1999. The establishes a lethal risk hierarchy, based on

5 deaths and injury, and the chapter charts the encounters and determines what lethal risk was

faced on a ‘per 100,000’ citizens perspective and on a ‘per 100’ officers’ perspective. The

analysis reveals a decrease in lethal risk likelihood over the years reviewed. (13/6419)

Chapter 7, presents analysis of official data sources regarding lethal risks for the years 2000

to 2019. It draws on a range of official documents. Where possible, it also details ‘per 100,000’

citizen and ‘per 100’ officer analysis of the likelihood of lethal risks being encountered. It

concludes with a seven-country international comparison of police officers’ deaths between

2000 and 2019. The chapter contains a more contemporary perspective on the lethal risk

hierarchy developed in Chapter 6, and also provide an international comparison of it.

(20/9453)

Part 3, looks at what observations the author can make from his research and the results

regarding the level of lethal risk faced by police officers in Aotearoa New Zealand. It also

moves on to consider the future and concludes with the author’s final commentary on lethal

risk.

Chapter 8, contains the author’s observations arising from the research and his findings. It

identifies what has worked to help lessen lethal risk outcomes and how that has unfolded

over the years reviewed. (20/9783)

Chapter 9, presents a discussion of ‘where to from here’ with commentary on how lethal risk

outcomes could be lessened even further with the application of technology. The chapter

discusses benchmarking, the government’s role, and what additional policy, procedure,

training and equipment New Zealand Police/Nga Pirihimana o Aotearoa might consider

applying to the policing environment. (8/4108)

Chapter 10, contains the author’s concluding comments and draws the work to a close.

(4/1700)

Appendix A, presents a review of all of the deaths of police and traffic officers

killed by criminal acts in the line of duty (33) between 1886 and 2020, and a summary of 36

non-fatal lethal risk encounters on the part of police and traffic officers to aid the reader in

appreciating the nature of lethal risks situations encountered by officers in Aotearoa New Zealand.

(14/6916)

Appendix B, contains a summary of the publicly available reporting data revealed by the

author’s research – containing date, nature of the lethal risk event, location and names of

officers involved (if known). (10/5033)

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.