12. Question No. 12—PoliceDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 12—Police12. Dr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei) to the Minister of Police: What recent announcements has the Government made on supporting the safety of front-line police and communities? Hon GINNY ANDERSEN (Minister of Police): Earlier today the Prime Minister and I announced the roll-out of a state-of-the-art toolset to help keep front-line police safe and communities safe across New Zealand. The Tactical Response Model (TRM) is a safety system created to ensure police officers are trained equipped and supported to keep themselves safe. Using police intelligence risk assessments will be made earlier. The model will strengthen decision making and critical thinking skills while under pressure. Offender prevention teams will also be rolled out to every district along with two-person tactical dog teams. It's critical that we give front-line police a higher level of protection without changing New Zealand's community policing model. Dr Emily Henderson: What are the main components of this initiative and how is it different from armed response teams? Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: The Tactical Response Model is a safety system. It is made up of three elements including training deployment and capability. Each of these elements are important in their own right but we have seen from the evaluation that we get a greater impact when they work together as a system. The TRM staff will not be generally armed and they will not be on community patrols like armed response teams were. The underlying principle of a tactical response model is a commitment to retain our community policing service. Staff will wear standard police uniform drive standard police vehicles and Police remains a generally unarmed service. Dr Emily Henderson: How is the model delivered and what evaluations on its effectiveness have taken place? Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: The model is delivered with the front-line officer at the very centre. It focuses fundamentally on the officer having the equipment the training and the cognitive response under pressure to be able to make the right decision in critical incidents. The model provides further support through deployment and the additional intelligence capacity that is focused on identifying and managing those persons who present the greatest risk to hurting our front-line staff. Last year a successful trial of the TRM was completed in four police districts: Northland Counties Manukau Waikato and Central. A formal evaluation of the model showed that it worked and that each component produced safety benefits but the greatest impact happened when it operated as a combined safety system. Dr Emily Henderson: Why is this training so important? Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: Every day we hear that police officers are being called to deal with potentially dangerous and risky situations so they need to keep themselves as safe as possible. It's critical to give front-line police a higher level of protection without changing New Zealand's community policing approach which we strongly believe is effective and appropriate for our country. Resolving incidents safely and reducing the risk to everyone involved is the goal. I'm looking forward to seeing the Tactical Response Model roll out to the remaining eight police districts to enhance the safety of police staff as well as the communities that they serve.