A video has been posted on youtube of this morning’s shoot out in Christchurch in which two police officers were shot in the head and a police dog was killed.

(warning – graphic content)

Armed Offenders Squad officers stormed a Buccleugh St house after a report of a loud bang.

A report on Newstalk ZB revealed that locals are terrified of their neighbourhood in which the shooting took place:

“Denise Lines and Joe Milne who live in the area, say they cannot wait to move away because of the high level of crime. Nearby Olliviers Rd was the scene of a homicide last year and a number of robberies”

The names of the the injured officers was released to the press later today:

From Stuff:

“A senior constable was shot in the face, another police officer shot in the leg and a police dog killed when a routine operation became a shooting drama in Christchurch today.

Canterbury District Commander Inspector Dave Cliff said the two officers who had been shot were senior constable Bruce Lamb, 51,  a dog handler, the second was Constable Mitchel Alatalo, 39.

Lamb was undergoing surgery after being shot through the jaw, which was shattered in four places.

Alatalo was shot in the thigh left but the bullet has passed though the leg.

“The bullet has come very close to the femoral artery if that had hit that the results coud have been tragic,” said Cliff.

Six-year-old German shepherd police dog, Gage, was also shot and died at the scene.

Police stormed the house on Buccleugh St and took a man – handcuffed with his face covered in blood and his shirt and trousers torn – away in a police car. A second man has also been arrested.

Police say a 34-year-old man is being questioned…”

Local residents were understandably shocked by the incident and talked about it online as events unfolded – See AOS outside my house NOW

There have since been calls for police in New Zealand to be armed, or at least have better access to weapons than they do at present.

Update 15 July 2010

The police association has called for every police officer on patrol to be equipped with an empty holster and a gun in the car.  How this will prevent incidents like the above is unclear.

The police commissioner

“…has ruled out “guns on hips” for all police at all times, he made clear he favoured increasing the scope for them to be in cars, with a final decision by Christmas.

At present, police district commanders can authorise firearms to be routinely carried in cars, but this is generally done only for non-commissioned officers, dog, single-officer and CIB patrols and first-response units. Mr Broad’s proposal expands that to include every frontline car, including those on general patrols or going to routine inquiries.” source

More Police Officers have been murdered in NZ over the last 10 years than in the whole of Australia where the police are armed. Assaults on police have risen more than 90 percent in the last 10 years, 9 police officers have been shot in the last 2 years.

There are at least 1.1 million legally owned firearms in the country.