I think this is just the tiniest bit of spin here.
In New Zealand, like the UK, police don't regularly guns. Most officers aren't trained with firearms. You have a number of elite armed response units who are. In addition to the various piracy offences, Kim is also charged with possessing an unregistered firearm. Apparently he also had some legal, registered firearms. There seems to be some confusion there, but the bottom line is the guy had guns.
Now, I don't know about you, but if you're going to arrest someone who you know has a gun maybe - just maybe - you'll want to send some officers with guns as well. Because even if it's the smallest, tiniest chance things are going to kick off you don't really want to be at a disadvantage.
And since your regular officers don't carry guns you send along your specially trained officers.
So you can make a very good argument that the guy shouldn't have been arrested. But I'm not totally convinced you can have a go at the police for sending some armed officers along to arrest somebody who was known to have guns and was also known to be a flight risk.
I believe they carry guns to all arrests where the person is known to be a violent offender. I've witnessed this many times. Never seen them draw their weapon though.
However, the way this arrest was carried out is completely over the top. Like his bodyguard said, he probably would've given them breakfast if they'd knocked on his door.
In New Zealand, like the UK, police don't regularly guns. Most officers aren't trained with firearms. You have a number of elite armed response units who are. In addition to the various piracy offences, Kim is also charged with possessing an unregistered firearm. Apparently he also had some legal, registered firearms. There seems to be some confusion there, but the bottom line is the guy had guns.
Now, I don't know about you, but if you're going to arrest someone who you know has a gun maybe - just maybe - you'll want to send some officers with guns as well. Because even if it's the smallest, tiniest chance things are going to kick off you don't really want to be at a disadvantage.
And since your regular officers don't carry guns you send along your specially trained officers.
So you can make a very good argument that the guy shouldn't have been arrested. But I'm not totally convinced you can have a go at the police for sending some armed officers along to arrest somebody who was known to have guns and was also known to be a flight risk.